| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Energy Frontiers Focus Topic | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session EN+AS+EM+SE+SS-TuM |
| Session: | Photocatalysis |
| Presenter: | Jayde Kwon, University of California, Irvine |
| Authors: | J. Kwon, University of California, Irvine J.C. Hemminger, University of California, Irvine |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) is an ideal substrate to study the fundamental growth mechanism of iron oxide independent from substrate effects. Platinum on iron oxide is a model heterogeneous catalyst with importance to biotechnology and solar cell applications. Selective growth of iron oxide nanoparticle (NP) either on step edges of HOPG or oxygen plasma treated HOPG by physical vapor deposition (PVD) will be presented. The successful selective iron oxide NP growth was validated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The development of the NP array system is highly significant in that it can provide an ideal template for theoretical calculations for fundamental metal growth studies. Pt nanoparticles was subsequently deposited on the iron oxide nanoparticles using a selective photodeposition technique. The application of these nano-systems (Pt nanoparticles on iron oxide nanoparticles) towards photocatalysis of methylene blue will be presented. Although iron oxide is a promising semiconductor photocatalyst, it suffers from a short hole diffusion length, low electrical conductivity and a high rate of electron hole recombination. However, this bimetallic system using platinum deposited on iron oxide overcomes these barriers. A novel method was developed using small quantities of Pt on iron oxide to significantly enhance methylene blue decomposition. This system is also being explored as a catalytic model for water-gas shift reactions.