Nitrogen ion irradiation effect on enhancing photocatalytic performance of CdTe/ZnO heterostructures

doi:10.1007/s11706-018-0438-8

Front. Mater. Sci.

2018, Vol. 12

Issue (4) : 392-404 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-018-0438-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Nitrogen ion irradiation effect on enhancing photocatalytic performance of CdTe/ZnO heterostructures

Yazi WANG¹, Wei LI¹, Yimeng FENG¹, Shasha LV¹, Mingyang LI^1,³, Zhengcao LI²(

)

¹. State Key Lab of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
². Key Lab of Advanced Materials (MOE), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
³. Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

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Abstract

To deal with the increasingly deteriorating environment problems, more and more harsh requirements are put forward for photocatalysis application. Building semiconductor heterostructures has been proven to be an efficient way to enhance photocatalytic performance. A kind of CdTe/ZnO heterostructures were synthesized by a hydrothermal and successive ionic layer absorption and reaction (SILAR) method and achieved obviously efficient photocatalytic performance. Moreover, after the N ion irradiation treatment, the photocatalytic activity was further enhanced, which can be ascribed to the introduction of oxygen vacancy defects. The photocatalytic performance enhancement mechanism by coupling constructing heterostructures and ion irradiation are further studied to give us an overall understanding on ZnO nanowires.

Keywords N ion irradiation CdTe/ZnO heterostructures photocatalytic performance

Corresponding Author(s): Zhengcao LI

Online First Date: 22 October 2018 Issue Date: 10 December 2018

Cite this article:

Yazi WANG,Wei LI,Yimeng FENG, et al. Nitrogen ion irradiation effect on enhancing photocatalytic performance of CdTe/ZnO heterostructures[J]. Front. Mater. Sci., 2018, 12(4): 392-404.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/10.1007/s11706-018-0438-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/Y2018/V12/I4/392

Fig.1 SEM images of the cross-section of ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle samples with different N ion irradiation doses: (a) 1×10¹³ ions/cm²; (b) 5×10¹³ ions/cm²; (c) 1×10¹⁴ ions/cm²; (d) 5×10¹⁴ ions/cm².

Fig.2 TEM images: (a) ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle heterostructure; (b) ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle heterostructure under N ion irradiation at 1×10¹⁴ ions/cm² dose. HRTEM images of unirradiated nanostructures: (c) CdTe/ZnO; (e) ZnO; (f) CdTe. HRTEM images of irradiated nanostructures: (d) CdTe/ZnO; (g) ZnO; (h) CdTe.

Fig.3 XRD patterns of (a) ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle sample and (b) ZnO-CdTe-20-cycle samples under different ion doses.

Fig.4 XPS spectra of as-grown ZnO NWs, CdTe/ZnO heterostructures, and ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle samples irradiated with 1×10¹⁴ ions/cm² dose: (a) Zn 2p; (b) O 1s; (c) Cd 3d; (d) Te 3d.

Fig.5 PL spectra: (a) as-grown ZnO NWs and CdTe/ZnO heterostructures prepared through various cycles; (b) ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle heterostructures with different N ion doses.

Fig.6 UV-vis absorption spectra: (a) ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle sample with different N ion doses; (b) band energy calculation diagram from the (αhv)²–E_g plot.

Tab.1 Bandgap energy values of as-grown ZnO NWs and N ion irradiated CdTe/ZnO heterostructures with different N ion doses

Fig.7 (a) Photocatalytic activity, (b) MO degradation kinetic curves, and (c) MO degradation rate–time curves using the Lambert–Beer law under the visible-light irradiation at 460 nm of ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle irradiated with different N ion doses.

Tab.2 First-order reaction rate constants k for as-grown ZnO NWs and ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle heterostructures with different N ion doses

Fig.8 Schematic diagram of photocatalytic process of CdTe/ZnO heterostructures.

Fig. S1 SEM images of the top and the cross-section: (a)(b) as-grown ZnO NWs; and CdTe/ZnO heterostructures with the SILAR cycles of (c)(d) 15 cycles, (e)(f) 20 cycles, (g)(h) 25 cycles, (i)(j) 30 cycles, and (k)(l) 35 cycles. (m) EDS pattern of CdTe/ZnO heterostructures.

Fig. S2 UV-vis absorption spectra of CdTe/ZnO heterostructures synthesized through various cycles.

Fig. S3 (a) Photocatalytic activity and (b) MO degradation rate–time curves using the Lambert–Beer law under visible-light irradiation at 460 nm of CdTe/ZnO heterostructures synthesized through various cycles.

Fig. S4 Cycling performance: (a) unirradiated ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle heterostructures; (b) irradiated ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle heterostructures with the N ion irradiation dose of 1×10¹⁴ ions/cm².

Fig. S5 XPS spectrum of irradiated ZnO–CdTe-20-cycle sample: N 1s.

Table S1 The main parameters of RF magnetron sputtering

Table S2 Atomic percentages of different elements in CdTe/ZnO heterostructures calculated from EDS patterns

Table S3 The first-order reaction rate constant k for CdTe/ZnO heterostructures with various cycles

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