Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Spatiotemporal imaging of charge transfer in photocatalyst particles
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Spatiotemporal imaging of charge transfer in photocatalyst particles
Do you wish to request the book?
Spatiotemporal imaging of charge transfer in photocatalyst particles
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
Spatiotemporal imaging of charge transfer in photocatalyst particles
2022
Overview
The water-splitting reaction using photocatalyst particles is a promising route for solar fuel production
1
–
4
. Photo-induced charge transfer from a photocatalyst to catalytic surface sites is key in ensuring photocatalytic efficiency
5
; however, it is challenging to understand this process, which spans a wide spatiotemporal range from nanometres to micrometres and from femtoseconds to seconds
6
–
8
. Although the steady-state charge distribution on single photocatalyst particles has been mapped by microscopic techniques
9
–
11
, and the charge transfer dynamics in photocatalyst aggregations have been revealed by time-resolved spectroscopy
12
,
13
, spatiotemporally evolving charge transfer processes in single photocatalyst particles cannot be tracked, and their exact mechanism is unknown. Here we perform spatiotemporally resolved surface photovoltage measurements on cuprous oxide photocatalyst particles to map holistic charge transfer processes on the femtosecond to second timescale at the single-particle level. We find that photogenerated electrons are transferred to the catalytic surface quasi-ballistically through inter-facet hot electron transfer on a subpicosecond timescale, whereas photogenerated holes are transferred to a spatially separated surface and stabilized through selective trapping on a microsecond timescale. We demonstrate that these ultrafast-hot-electron-transfer and anisotropic-trapping regimes, which challenge the classical perception of a drift–diffusion model, contribute to the efficient charge separation in photocatalysis and improve photocatalytic performance. We anticipate that our findings will be used to illustrate the universality of other photoelectronic devices and facilitate the rational design of photocatalysts.
Photovoltage measurements on cuprous oxide photocatalyst particles are used to spatiotemporally track the charge transfer processes on the femtosecond to second timescale at the single-particle level.
