title: Solution-chemical route to generalized synthesis of metal germanate nanowires with room-temperature, light-driven hydrogenation activity of CO2 into renewable hydrocarbon fuels.
abstract: A facile solution-chemical route was developed for the generalized preparation of a family of highly uniform metal germanate nanowires on a large scale. This route is based on the use of hydrazine monohydrate/H2O as a mixed solvent under solvothermal conditions. Hydrazine has multiple effects on the generation of the nanowires: as an alkali solvent, a coordination agent, and crystal anisotropic growth director. Different-percentage cobalt-doped Cd2Ge2O6 nanowires were also successfully obtained through the addition of Co(OAc)2·4H2O to the initial reaction mixture for future investigation of the magnetic properties of these nanowires. The considerably negative conduction band level of the Cd2Ge2O6 nanowire offers a high driving force for photogenerated electron transfer to CO2 under UV-vis illumination, which facilitates CO2 photocatalytic reduction to a renewable hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of water vapor at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics, MOE, Institute of Acoustics, School of Physics, ⊥National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Ecomaterials and Renewable Energy Research Center (ERERC), †ERERC, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and ∥ERERC, School of Physics, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Wenguang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Shicheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zou