Nat Commun. 2020 Feb 12;11(1):854. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14675-5.

Light intensity-induced photocurrent switching effect.

Nature communications

Agnieszka Podborska, Maciej Suchecki, Krzysztof Mech, Mateusz Marzec, Kacper Pilarczyk, Konrad Szaciłowski

PMID: 32051416 PMCID: PMC7016128 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14675-5

Abstract

A better control over processes responsible for the photocurrent generation in semiconductors and nanocomposites is essential in the fabrication of photovoltaic devices, efficient photocatalysts and optoelectronic elements. Therefore, new approaches towards photochemical properties tuning are intensively searched for. Among numerous parameters, the photocurrent polarity is of great importance to the overall performance of a device. Usually, the polarity is controlled through an alignment of electronic states/bands, tailoring of applied potential or suitable selection of incident light wavelengths. In most scenarios though, the influence of light intensity is somehow neglected and either some arbitrarily chosen, natural conditions are mimicked or this parameter is varied only in a narrow range. Here we present a ternary nanocomposite in which the persistent photocurrent polarity switching is achieved through changes in the light intensity. We also present arguments suggesting this behaviour is of a general character and should be considered also in other photochemical systems.

References

1. Pilarczyk, K. et al. Molecules, semiconductors, light and information: Towards future sensing and computing paradigms. Coord. Chem. Rev. 365, 23–40 (2018). - PubMed
2. Ouyang, B., Zhang, K. & Yang, Y. Photocurrent polarity controlled by light wavelength in self-powered ZnO nanowires/SnS photodetector system. iScience 2, 16–23 (2018). - PubMed
3. Chen, H., Liu, G. & Wang, L. Switches photocurrent direction in Au/TiO - PubMed
4. Antuch, M., Millet, P., Iwase, A. & Kudo, A. The role of surface states during photocurrent switching: intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy analysis of BiVO - PubMed
5. Pilarczyk, K. et al. Coordination chemistry for information acquisition and processing. Coord. Chem. Rev. 325, 135–160 (2016). - PubMed
6. Szaciłowski, K. Digital information processing in molecular systems. Chem. Rev. 108, 3481–3548 (2008). - PubMed
7. Szaciłowski, K. Infochemistry. Information Processing at the Nanoscale (John Wiley & Sons, 2012). - PubMed
8. Gawęda, S., Podborska, A., Macyk, W. & Szaciłowski, K. Nanoscale optoelectronic switches and logic devices. Nanoscale 1, 299–316 (2009). - PubMed
9. Podborska, A. et al. Anomalous photocathodic behavior of CdS within the Urbach tail region. J. Phys. Chem. C 113, 6774–6784 (2009). - PubMed
10. Kwolek, P., Pilarczyk, K., Tokarski, T., Lewandowska, K. & Szaciłowski, K. Bi - PubMed
11. Park, H., Lee, J. & Choi, W. Study of special cases where the enhanced photocatalytic activies of Pt/TiO - PubMed
12. Mech, J., Mech, K. & Szaciłowski, K. TiO - PubMed
13. Pilarczyk, K. et al. Charge transfer tuninig in TiO - PubMed
14. Chun, S. Y. et al. Power-dependent photocatalytic activity of ZnO. Bull. Korean Chem. Soc. 38, 410–413 (2017). - PubMed
15. Godin, R., Hisatomi, T., Domen, K. & Durrant, J. R. Understanding the visible-light photocatalytic activity of GaN:ZnO solid solution: the role of Rh - PubMed
16. Zhang, X. et al. Product selectivity in plasmonic photocatalysis for carbon dioxide hydrogenation. Nat. Commun. 8, 14542 (2017). - PubMed
17. Subramanian, V., Wolf, E. E. & Kamat, P. V. Catalysis with TiO - PubMed
18. Klee, V. et al. Superlinear composition-dependent photocurrent in CVD-grown monolayer MoS - PubMed
19. Li, L. et al. Ternary Ta - PubMed
20. Molcanov, K., Kojic-Prodic, B. & Meden, A. Unique electronic and structural properties of 1,4-benzoquinones: crystalochemistry of alkali chloranilate hydrates. Croat. Chem. Acta 82, 387–396 (2009). - PubMed
21. Molcanov, K., Jurić, M. & Kojić-Prodić, B. A novel type of coordination mode of chloranilic acid leading to the formation of polymeric coordination ribbon in the series of mixed-ligand copper(II) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline. Dalton Trans. 43, 7208–7218 (2014). - PubMed
22. Pilarczyk, K. et al. Synaptic behavior in an optoelectronic device based on semiconductor–nanotube hybrid. Adv. Electron Mater. 2, 1500471 (2016). - PubMed
23. Kitagawa, S. & Kawata, S. Coordination compounds of 1,4-dihydroxybenxoquinone and its homologues. Structures and properties. Coord. Chem. Rev. 224, 11–34 (2002). - PubMed
24. Vileno, B. et al. Spectroscopic and photophysical properties of a highly derivatized C - PubMed
25. Sirkant, V. & Clarke, D. R. On the optical band gap of zinc oxide. J. Appl. Phys. 83, 5447 (1998). - PubMed
26. Janotti, A. & Van deWalle, C. Fundamentals of zinc oxide as a semiconductor. Rep. Prog. Phys. 72, 126501 (2009). - PubMed
27. Xu, Y. & Schoonen, M. The absolute energy position of conduction and valence bands of selected semiconducting minerals. Am. Mineral. 85, 543–556 (2000). - PubMed
28. Bloh, J., Dillert, R. & Bahnemann, D. Ruthenium-modified zinc oxide, a highly active vis-photocatalyst: the nature and reactivity of photoactive centres. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16, 5833–5845 (2014). - PubMed
29. Kołodziejczak-Radzimska, A. & Jesionowski, T. Zinc oxide—from synthesis to application: a review. Materials 7, 2833–2881 (2014). - PubMed
30. Blachecki, A. et al. Organotitania-based nanostructures as a suitable platform for the implementation of binary, ternary, and fuzzy logic systems. ChemPhysChem 18, 1798–1810 (2017). - PubMed
31. Kwolek, P. et al. Lead molybdate—a promising material for optoelectronics and photocatalysis. J. Mater. Chem. C 3, 2614–2623 (2015). - PubMed
32. Kong, L., Tedrow, O. N., Chan, Y. F. & Zepp, R. G. Light-Initiated transformation of fullerenol in aqueous media. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43, 9155–9160 (2009). - PubMed
33. Bisquert, J., Fabregat-Santiago, F., Mora-Seró, I., Garcia-Belmonte, G. & Giménez, S. Electron lifetime in dye-sensitized solar cells: theory and interpretation of measurements. J. Phys. Chem. C 113, 17278–17290 (2009). - PubMed
34. Kumar, S. G. & Rao, K. S. R. K. Zinc oxide based photocatalysis: tailoring surface-bulk structure and related interfacial charge carrier dynamics for better environmental applications. RSC Adv. 5, 3306–3351 (2015). - PubMed
35. Quintana, M., Edvinsson, T., Hagfeldt, A. & Boschloo, G. Comparison of dye-sensitized ZnO and TiO - PubMed
36. Oekermann, T., Yoshida, T., Minoura, H., Wijayantha, K. G. U. & Peter, L. M. Electron transport and back reaction in electrochemically self-assembled nanoporous ZnO/Dye hybrid films. J. Phys. Chem. B 108, 8364–8370 (2004). - PubMed
37. Liu, T. & Troisi, A. What makes fullerene acceptors special as electron acceptors in organic solar cells and how to replace them. Adv. Mater. 25, 1038–1041 (2013). - PubMed
38. Haddon, R. C. The fullerenes: powerful carbon-based electron acceptors. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 343, 53–62 (1993). - PubMed
39. Warzecha, M., Oszajca, M., Pilarczyk, K. & Szaciłowski, K. A three-valued photoelectrochemical logic device realising accept anything and consensus operation. Chem. Commun. 51, 3559–3561 (2015). - PubMed
40. Lee, K. M., Lai, C. W., Ngai, K. S. & Juan, J. C. Recent developments of zinc oxide based photocatalyst in water treatment technology: a review. Water Res. 88, 428–448 (2016). - PubMed
41. Khalafi, T., Buazar, F. & Ghanemi, H. Phycosynthesis and enhanced photocatalytic activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles toward organosulfur pollutants. Sci. Rep. 9, 6866 (2019). - PubMed
42. Nosaka, Y. & Nosaka, A. Y. Generation and detection of reactive oxygen species in photocatalysis. Chem. Rev. 117, 11302–11336 (2017). - PubMed
43. Dloczik, L. et al. Dynamic response of dye-sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells: characterization by intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy. J. Phys. Chem. B 49, 10281–10289 (1997). - PubMed
44. Wang, M. et al. An organic redox electrolyte to rival triiodide/iodide in dye-sensitized solar cells. Nat. Chem. 2, 385–289 (2010). - PubMed
45. Xie, X., Crespo, G. A., Mistlberger, G. & Bakker, E. Photocurrent generation based on a light-driven proton pump in an artificial liquid membrane. Nat. Chem. 6, 202–207 (2014). - PubMed
46. Mathew, S. et al. Dye-sensitized solar cells with 13% efficiency achieved through the molecular engineering of porphyrin sensitizers. Nat. Chem. 6, 242–247 (2014). - PubMed
47. Bloh, J. Z. A holistic approach to model the kinetics of photocatalytic reactions. Front. Chem. 7, 128 (2019). - PubMed
48. Tu, W. et al. Construction of unique two-dimensional MoS - PubMed
49. Wang, D. et al. Photocatalytic water oxidation on BiVO - PubMed
50. Ran, J., Zhang, J., Yu, J., Jaroniec, M. & Qiao, S. Z. Earth-abundant cocatalysts for semiconductor-based photocatalytic water splitting. Chem. Soc. Rev. 43, 7787–7812 (2014). - PubMed
51. Frisch, M.J., Trucks, G. W., Schlegel, H. B., Scuseria, G. E. et al. Gaussian 09, Revision E.01 (Wallingford, CT, 2013). - PubMed
52. GaussView 5 (Semichem Inc., Shawnee Mission, KS, 2009). - PubMed

Publication Types

• Journal Article

Grant support

• UMO-2016/21/N/ST3/00469/Narodowe Centrum Nauki (National Science Centre)
• UMO-2013/11/D/ST5/03010/Narodowe Centrum Nauki (National Science Centre)
• UMO-2015/17/B/ST8/01783/Narodowe Centrum Nauki (National Science Centre)