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Novel gold dendritic nanoflowers deposited on titanium nitride for photoelectrochemical cells

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Abstract

This study demonstrates the elaboration of a novel composite comprising gold dendritic nanoflowers (Au DNFs)/titanium nitride (TiN)/silicon (Si); this composite can be used for methanol oxidation reactions in alkaline electrolytes. Cyclic voltammograms showed that a thick (650 nm) Au DNFs/TiN/Si (L-DNFs-TiN) composite had double the oxidation current density of a thick (800 nm) Au DNFs/Si (L-DNFs-Si) composite in the presence of light illumination, whereas the oxidation current density for a thin (250 nm) Au DNFs/Si (S-DNFs-Si) composite and Au nanoparticles could not be determined. Chronoamperometry (CA) testing indicated that the L-DNFs-TiN could absorb light illumination more effectively than the L-DNFs-Si did. These results correspond to the broadband light absorption of TiN. Testing with continuous cyclic on/off light illumination showed a repeatable performance in CA, indicating that the proposed L-DNFs-TiN composite can be applied in photoelectrochemical cells in the future.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the SEM analyses of Ms. Nancy Chu from the Instrument Technology Research Center, National Applied Research Laboratories.

Funding

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (contract numbers: MOST 105-2221-E-492-003-MY2 and MOST 106-2221-E-239-022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instrument Technology Research Center, National Applied Research Laboratories, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan

    Ming-Hua Shiao, Chun-Ting Lin, Hung Ji Huang & Bo-Huei Liao

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, National United University, Miaoli, 360, Taiwan

    Ping-Hsi Chen & Yung-Sheng Lin

  3. Department of Engineering and System Science, Frontier Research Center on Fundamental and Applied Sciences of Matters, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan

    Fan-Gang Tseng

  4. Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Fan-Gang Tseng

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  1. Ming-Hua Shiao
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  2. Chun-Ting Lin
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  3. Hung Ji Huang
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  4. Ping-Hsi Chen
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  5. Bo-Huei Liao
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  6. Fan-Gang Tseng
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  7. Yung-Sheng Lin
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Correspondence to Yung-Sheng Lin.

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Shiao, MH., Lin, CT., Huang, H. et al. Novel gold dendritic nanoflowers deposited on titanium nitride for photoelectrochemical cells. J Solid State Electrochem 22, 3077–3084 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-018-4004-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-018-4004-1

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