Controllable Synthesis Of Functional Nanomaterials And Their Properties In Energy Source

In this dissertation, the authors focused on the key issues in energy source, to explore the controllable synthesis of functional nanomaterials and the elaborated construction of advantageous nanostructure on the basis of the structure analysis between the reactants and target products. By utilizing the precursors and self-limitation properties of the final product, the corresponding structure-dependent properties of the as-obtained functional inorganic nanomaterials were also investigated in this dissertation. The details are summarized briefly as follows:1. In pursuit of enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic H₂ evolution by CuInS₂ photocatalyst, the authors developed a one-pot route for large-scale preparation of nearly monodisperse CuInS₂ with hierarchical architectures using in-situ formed CuS template. The obtained CuInS₂ sample as photocatalyst, with many advantages in uniform size, high dispersity, crystallinity and surface area, exhibits a remarkable photocatalytic activity for H₂ evolution from water under visible light irradiation.2. For improving the photochromism and electrochromism performance of MoO₃, the authors demonstrated an intrinsic condensation reaction from peroxomolybdate precursor solution to produce novel high-quality h-MoO₃ nanobelts for the first time. The interaction of precursor and mineralizer is proved to influence the formation of metastable phase h-MoO₃. More importantly, our approach offers the first opportunity to investigate the application of metastable phase h-MoO₃ nanobelts in photochromism and electrochromism. As a result, the obtained h-MoO₃ nanobelts worked as a chromogenic material exhibit considerably higher sensitivity, coloration efficiency and faster response in compared with the conventionalα-MoO₃ nanobelts.3. To tackle the design issue for exploring the electrode material of molybdenum oxides directly adhering with a metal current collector, the authors developed a one-step electrode fabrication consisting of the sol-gel and solution-based growth of MoO₃ or MoO₂ nanorod arrays onto copper foil on the basis of the structural characteristics of the precursor and the target product. We studied the electrical transport and interaction with metal contacts in comparison. The potential application of such integrated electrodes, displaying interesting advantages with respect to enhancement of electrochemical capacitance properties and cycle stabilities of molybdenum oxides by direct growth on Cu current collectors, has been demonstrated using these molybdenum oxide arrays as a distinctive electrode material for supercapacitor. 4. The authors developed a new and universal synthetic strategy to hybrid metal oxides and conducting polymer nanocomposites for supercapacitor application. The simultaneous reaction process which includes the generation of metal oxide layers, the oxidation polymerization of monomers and the in-situ formation of polymer-metal oxides sandwich structure is successfully realized. The as-obtained the hybrid polyaniline-intercalated MoO₃ nanocomposites afford excellent performance for supercapacitor application.