Ultrathin-Walled 3D Inorganic Nanostructured Networks Templated from Cross-Linked Cellulose Nanocrystal Aerogels

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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2021-06-09

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en

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6

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Advanced Materials Interfaces, Volume 8, issue 11

Abstract

A key challenge in the development of materials for applications in the fields of opto- and nanoelectronics, catalysis, separation, and energy conversion is the ability to fabricate 3D inorganic semiconductive nanostructures in a precisely-controlled and cost-effective manner. This work describes the fabrication of 3D nanostructured TiO2 monoliths by coating ultraporous cross-linked cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) aerogel templates with TiO2 layers of controlled thickness via atomic layer deposition (ALD). Following calcination, the resulting hollow inorganic ultraporous 3D networks form the thinnest self-supporting semiconductive structure (7 nm) fabricated directly on a conductive substrate. The CNC-templated ALD–TiO2 electrodes are applied toward photoelectrochemical water splitting. The results show that a TiO2 coating as thin as 15 nm produces a maximum water splitting efficiency, resulting in materials savings and reduced fabrication time.

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Funding Information: All the co‐authors acknowledge Dr. Ayodele Fatona with gratitude for the assistance with TGA measurements. This work was supported by the Academy of Finland (Decision Nos. 141481, 286713, and 309920). T.O. was partially supported through a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Undergraduate Student Research Award (NSERC‐USRA). J.M.M. and E.D.C. are recipients of Early Researcher Awards from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and J.M.M. holds the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Micro‐ and Nanostructured Materials. Funding from NSERC through Discovery Grants to J.M.M. and E.D.C. is gratefully acknowledged. This research made use of instrumentation in the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy and Biointerfaces Institute at McMaster University. This work is part of the Academy of Finland Flagship Programme, Photonics Research, and Innovation (PREIN) (Decision No. 320 165). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Materials Interfaces published by Wiley-VCH GmbH Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

3D network structure, atomic layer deposition, nanocellulose, templating, water splitting

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Citation

Hiltunen, A, Or, T, Lahtonen, K, Ali-Löytty, H, Tkachenko, N, Valden, M, Sarlin, E, Cranston, E D, Moran-Mirabal, J M & Vapaavuori, J 2021, ' Ultrathin-Walled 3D Inorganic Nanostructured Networks Templated from Cross-Linked Cellulose Nanocrystal Aerogels ', Advanced Materials Interfaces, vol. 8, no. 11, 2001181 . https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202001181