Photodecomposition of Metal Nitrate and Chloride Compounds Yields Amorphous Metal Oxide Films.
Jingfu HeDavid M WeekesWei ChengKevan E DettelbachAoxue HuangTengfei LiCurtis P BerlinguettePublished in: Journal of the American Chemical Society (2017)
UV light is found to trigger the decomposition of MClx or M(NO3)x (where M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, or Zn) to form uniform, amorphous films of metal oxides. This process does not elevate the temperature of the substrate and thus conformal films can be coated on a range of substrates, including rigid glass and flexible plastic. The formation of the oxide films were confirmed by a combination of powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Amorphous oxide films of iron, nickel and a combination of iron and nickel demonstrated oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalytic activities commensurate with films of the same compositions prepared by widely used electrodeposition and sputtering methods. These results illuminate a potential route to amorphous oxides at scale using simple metal precursors without vacuum or heat.
Keyphrases
- room temperature
- electron microscopy
- high resolution
- carbon nanotubes
- metal organic framework
- solid state
- ionic liquid
- single molecule
- reduced graphene oxide
- gold nanoparticles
- drinking water
- nitric oxide
- risk assessment
- magnetic resonance imaging
- magnetic resonance
- computed tomography
- climate change
- quantum dots
- energy transfer