Nanostructured Surfaces for Photoelectrochemical Sensors
A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2020) | Viewed by 286
Special Issue Editor
Interests: oxides thin films; photo-electrochemistry; nanostructured surfaces; oxide nanoparticles; metal nanoparticles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Photoelectrochemistry (PEC) is a rapidly evolving discipline that studies the effect of light on photoelectrodes and interfacial materials and, of course, the conversion of solar energy into electrical power. The basic photoelectrochemical process deals with the oxidation or reduction reactions between species in solution and a photoexcited material, which occur at the electrode/electrolyte interface upon illumination. In contrast to the optical techniques, the relatively easy measurement of a photocurrent makes a PEC instrument for sensing simple, inexpensive, and easy to miniaturize. The complete separation of the excitation source (light) and the detection signal (photocurrent) allows a low background signal and, usually, a very good sensitivity. Quite recently, several approaches to PEC sensing and biosensing have been developed. PEC sensing has been especially oriented towards the determination of the so-called PEC chemical oxygen demand (COD), where the use of nanostructured surfaces like TiO2 nanotubes arrays has always furnished remarkable performances. Several strategies have also been developed to efficiently control the detection signal, such as the consumption/generation of electron donors/acceptors, the charge transfer (electrons or holes) from the photoactive material to substrates in solution, and energy transfer through surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and chemiluminescence-based energy transfer.
Less attention has been devoted to the role played by the surface morphology and nanostructuration of photoactive materials. The nanostructuration of the photoelectrode surface or that of the interface between different types of semiconductors (p–n junctions) can play a very important role in the photocurrent density and ultimately in the limit of detection (LOD) and linearity range. This issue is therefore focused on PEC sensing examples, with particular emphasis on the correlation between sensing properties and surface nanostructuration.
Prof. Dr. Gian Andrea Rizzi
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- photoelectrochemistry
- sensors
- biosensors
- nanostructures
- surfaces
- sensing strategy
