A greener route to photoelectrochemically active PbS nanoparticles

Javeed Akhtar; M. Azad Malik; Paul O'Brien; K. G. U. Wijayantha; R. Dharmadasa; Samantha J. O. Hardman; Darren M. Graham; Ben F. Spencer; Stuart K. Stubbs; Wendy R. Flavell; David J. Binks; Fausto Sirotti; Mario El Kazzi; Mathieu Silly

doi:10.1039/B924436K

A greener route to photoelectrochemically active PbS nanoparticles†

Javeed Akhtar,^a M. Azad Malik,^a Paul O'Brien,*^a K. G. U. Wijayantha,^b R. Dharmadasa,^b Samantha J. O. Hardman,^c Darren M. Graham,^c Ben F. Spencer,^cd Stuart K. Stubbs,^c Wendy R. Flavell,^c David J. Binks,^c Fausto Sirotti,^e Mario El Kazzi^e and Mathieu Silly^e

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a School of Chemistry and Materials Science Centre, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK
E-mail: paul.obrien@manchester.ac.uk

^b Department of Chemistry, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK

^c School of Physics and Astronomy and the Photon Science Institute, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK

^d The Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science and Technology, STFC Daresbury laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington, Cheshire, UK

^e TEMPO Beamline, Socité civile Synchrotron SOLEIL, L'Orme des Merisiers, Saint-Aubin - 48, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Abstract

A cheap and more environmentally friendly method for the synthesis of high quality PbS nanoparticles in olive oil at 60 °C has been developed. Carefully controlling the conditions of reactions leads to PbS nanoparticles with well-defined sizes, and band gaps between 1.72 and 0.88 eV. The nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, HRTEM, NIR absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and a fluorescence lifetime experiment based on the time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) technique. Photoelectrochemical study carried out by steady-state current–voltage measurements of self-assembled PbS nanoparticles on ZnO–SnO₂ electrodes in 1 M Na₂SO₃ electrolyte solution showed that as-prepared PbS nanoparticles were photochemically active.

Journal of Materials Chemistry

A greener route to photoelectrochemically active PbS nanoparticles†

Abstract

Supplementary files

Article information

Download Citation

Permissions

A greener route to photoelectrochemically active PbS nanoparticles

Search articles by author

Spotlight

Advertisements