Chinese researchers have developed bamboo-like nano-materials

  Recently, a team from the University of Science and Technology of China and the University of Toronto developed a "pulsed axial epitaxy" method for fabrication of one-dimensional colloidal quantum dots (qds)-nanowire segmented heterojunctions with tunable size and structure, the structure is similar to the bamboo structure of nano-"bamboo" composite heterojunction, can make full use of solar energy, and will be effectively converted into hydrogen energy. With the great pressure of Global Energy and environment problems, people are looking for new clean energy to replace the traditional coal chemical industry. Harnessing the suns Artificial photosynthesis to efficiently convert water from the natural world into clean hydrogen energy is an important part of the current scientific effort. In recent years, scientists have designed new semiconductor nanomaterials to capture solar energy and achieve efficient photochemical conversion, so that we see the use of new clean energy. But how to reduce the cost, further improve the conversion efficiency to achieve industrialization, is still a huge challenge. The artificial nanoscale "bamboo" referred to in the study has segments and stems made up of cadmium sulfide and zinc sulfide, respectively, which grow alternately, according to the List of semiconductor materials, its very similar to the way we see bamboo growing up from the ground. Interestingly, the researchers designed this unique growth pattern to precisely control the size, number and spacing of each artificial nanoblock. This kind of abundant regulation and control ability provides more space for the further development and utilization of this kind of material. In addition, the researchers found that there was a synergistic effect between the different components of the artificial "bamboo" nano-materials, and the combination of the two orientations greatly enhanced the performance of a single material. Compared with the single material, the efficiency of hydrogen production by solar energy from nano-bamboo is improved by an order of magnitude, which provides a new way for designing and developing new efficient solar hydrogen production materials in the future.

  (Source: CYC Online)