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Bi2WO6 quantum dot-intercalated ultrathin montmorillonite nanostructure and its enhanced photocatalytic performance

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Abstract

The kinetic competition between electron-hole recombination and water oxidation is a key limitation for the development of efficient solar water splitting materials. In this study, we present a solution for solving this challenge by constructing a quantum dot-intercalated nanostructure. For the first time, we show the interlayer charge of the intercalated nanostructure can significantly inhibit the electron-hole recombination in photocatalysis. For Bi2WO6 quantum dots (QDs) intercalated in a montmorillonite (MMT) nanostructure as an example, the average lifetime of the photogenerated charge carriers was increased from 3.06 μs to 18.8 μs by constructing the intercalated nanostructure. The increased lifetime markedly improved the photocatalytic performance of Bi2WO6 both in solar water oxidation and environmental purification. This work not only provides a method to produce QD-intercalated ultrathin nanostructures but also a general route to design efficient semiconductor-based photoconversion materials for solar fuel generation and environmental purification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China

    Songmei Sun, Wenzhong Wang, Dong Jiang, Ling Zhang, Xiaoman Li & Yali Zheng

  2. Materials and Process Simulation Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

    Qi An

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  1. Songmei Sun
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  2. Wenzhong Wang
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  4. Ling Zhang
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  7. Qi An
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Correspondence to Wenzhong Wang.

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Sun, S., Wang, W., Jiang, D. et al. Bi2WO6 quantum dot-intercalated ultrathin montmorillonite nanostructure and its enhanced photocatalytic performance. Nano Res. 7, 1497–1506 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0511-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0511-2

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