Nanomaterials - 01

Abstract

Nanosheets delaminated from layered precursors have gained momentum over the past few decades owing to their unique structures and properties. They have found diverse applications in developing new photocatalysts, sensors, magnetic materials, and energy storage devices. Furthermore, they can be assembled into well-packed monolayers on various substrates. Recently, titanate nanosheets were found to become sectioned when spin-coated onto non-flat indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates, with crevices forming within the nanosheets along their crystallographic axes.[1] In this study, the properties of sectioned titanate nanosheets were investigated by photocatalytically depositing gold nanoparticles onto their surfaces and comparing their photocatalytic activities with those of original unsectioned nanosheets that contain only native edges. The deposited gold nanoparticles preferentially localized within the crevices of the sectioned nanosheets, suggesting that these sites confer unique photocatalytic properties, whereas on unsectioned nanosheets the nanoparticles aggregated at the native edges (Fig. 1). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the total amount of gold nanoparticles deposited on the sectioned nanosheets was higher than that on the unsectioned nanosheets, indicating the enhanced photocatalytic activity of the sectioned nanosheets.