Ambient Aqueous Growth of Cu2Te Nanostructures with Excellent Electrocatalytic Activity toward Sulfide Redox Shuttles.
A new aqueous and scalable strategy to synthesize surfactant-free Cu2Te nanotubes and nanosheets at room temperature has been developed. In aqueous solution, Cu2E (E = O, S, Se) nanoparticles can be easily transformed into Cu2Te nanosheets and nanotubes via a simple anion exchange reaction under ambient conditions. The formation of Cu2Te nanosheets is ascribed to a novel exchange-peeling growth mechanism instead of simple Kirkendall effect; and the resultant nanosheets can be further rolled into nanotubes with assistance of stirring. The morphologies of Cu2Te nanosheets and nanotubes can be easily controlled by changing the synthesis parameters, such as the concentration of precursors, the size of nanoparticle precursor, and the amount of NaBH4, as well as the stirring speed. Thus-formed Cu2Te nanostructures exhibit excellent catalytic activity toward sulfide redox shuttles and are exploited as counter electrodes catalysts for quantum dot sensitized solar cells. The performance of Cu2Te nanostructures strongly depends on their morphology, and the solar cells made with counter electrodes from Cu2Te nanosheets show the maximum power conversion efficiency of 5.35%.
Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials Australian Institute for Innovative Materials University of Wollongong Squires Way North Wollongong NSW 2500 Australia.
Chao
C
Han
Nanomaterials Centre School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology The University of Queensland Brisbane QLD 4072 Australia.
Yang
Y
Bai
School of Radiation Medicine and Radiation Protection Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions Soochow University 199 Ren Ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park Suzhou 215123 P.R. China.
Qiao
Q
Sun
Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials Australian Institute for Innovative Materials University of Wollongong Squires Way North Wollongong NSW 2500 Australia; School of Radiation Medicine and Radiation Protection Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions Soochow University 199 Ren Ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park Suzhou 215123 P.R. China.
Shaohua
S
Zhang
Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials Australian Institute for Innovative Materials University of Wollongong Squires Way North Wollongong NSW 2500 Australia; School of Radiation Medicine and Radiation Protection Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions Soochow University 199 Ren Ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park Suzhou 215123 P.R. China.
Zhen
Z
Li
Nanomaterials Centre School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology The University of Queensland Brisbane QLD 4072 Australia.
Lianzhou
L
Wang
Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials Australian Institute for Innovative Materials University of Wollongong Squires Way North Wollongong NSW 2500 Australia.
Shixue
S
Dou
anion exchange; copper chalcogenides; electrocatalyst; surfactant‐free