TY - JOUR

T1 - Revealing the Effect of Nanoscopic Design on the Charge Carrier Separation Processes in Semiconductor‐Metal Nanoparticle Gel Networks

AU - Schlenkrich, Jakob

AU - Zámbó, Dániel

AU - Schlosser, Anja

AU - Rusch, Pascal

AU - Bigall, Nadja C.

N1 - Funding Information: J.S. and D.Z. contributed equally to this work. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement 714429). Additionally, this work was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) under Germany's excellence strategy within the cluster of excellence PhoenixD (EXC 2122, project ID 390833453) and the grant BI 1708/4‐1. A.S. is thankful for financial support from the Hannover School for Nanotechnology (hsn). Moreover, the authors thank Armin Feldhoff and Jürgen Caro for providing the SEM facility. Furthermore, the used TEM for the shown images was provided by the Laboratory of Nano and Quantum Engineering.

PY - 2022/1/7

Y1 - 2022/1/7

N2 - In this paper, it is shown that the nanoscopic design of combining semiconductors and noble metals has a direct impact on the macroscopic (electrochemical) properties of their assembled, hyperbranched, macroscopic gel networks. Controlled and arbitrary deposition of gold domains on CdSe/CdS nanorods leads to tipped and randomly decorated heteroparticles, respectively. Structural and optical properties of the gel networks depend upon assembling the hybrid particles by means of oxidative or ionic routes. Additionally, the impact of different building block designs on the charge carrier separation processes is investigated from spectroelectrochemical point of view. A more efficient charge carrier separation is revealed in the tipped design manifesting in higher negative photocurrent efficiencies compared to the arbitrary decoration, where the charge recombination processes are more remarkable. This work sheds light on the importance of the nanostructuring on the spectroelectrochemical properties at the macroscale paving the way towards their use in photochemical reactions.

AB - In this paper, it is shown that the nanoscopic design of combining semiconductors and noble metals has a direct impact on the macroscopic (electrochemical) properties of their assembled, hyperbranched, macroscopic gel networks. Controlled and arbitrary deposition of gold domains on CdSe/CdS nanorods leads to tipped and randomly decorated heteroparticles, respectively. Structural and optical properties of the gel networks depend upon assembling the hybrid particles by means of oxidative or ionic routes. Additionally, the impact of different building block designs on the charge carrier separation processes is investigated from spectroelectrochemical point of view. A more efficient charge carrier separation is revealed in the tipped design manifesting in higher negative photocurrent efficiencies compared to the arbitrary decoration, where the charge recombination processes are more remarkable. This work sheds light on the importance of the nanostructuring on the spectroelectrochemical properties at the macroscale paving the way towards their use in photochemical reactions.

KW - aerogels

KW - charge carrier separation

KW - hybrid-nanoparticle network

KW - photoelectrochemistry

KW - self-assembly

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118208816&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/adom.202101712

DO - 10.1002/adom.202101712

M3 - Article

VL - 10

JO - Advanced optical materials

JF - Advanced optical materials

SN - 2195-1071

IS - 1

M1 - 2101712

ER -