Papers by Author: Xi Zhong An

Abstract: Photogenerated electron/hole recombination greatly limits the catalytic efficiency of TiO₂, and recently modification with graphene substance has been regarded as an effective way to enhance the photocatalytic performance of TiO₂. When referring to the fabrication of graphene based materials, the reduction process of graphene oxide has been demonstrated to be a key step. Therefore, it is highly required to develop an efficient and simple route for the GO reduction and the formation of TiO₂-reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposites. In this study, TiO₂-RGO nanocomposites were prepared by a facile and efficient one-step hydrothermal method using titanium (IV) butoxide (TBT) and graphene oxide (GO) without reducing agents. This method shows several unique features, including no requirement of harsh chemicals and high temperature involved, one-step hydrothermal reaction for mild reduction of GO and crystallization of TiO₂ running in parallel, and the production of TiO₂-RGO nanocomposites in a green and efficient synthetic route. In addition, the photocatalytic activities of the synthesized composites were systematically evaluated by degrading methylene blue (MB) under sun light irradiation. The TiO₂-RGO nanocomposites show a superior photocatalytic activity to the synthesized pure TiO₂. It is also found that the concentration of RGO in the nanocomposites plays a key role in the photocatalytic activity. Specifically, the composite with 1 wt % RGO shows the best photocatalytic activity, probably due to the reduction of the electron-hole recombination rate.

Abstract: The growth of nano CVD diamond films on low index faces such as (111) face and (100) face under different proposed surface chemical reaction model was simulated by using Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) method from atomic scale. The results, for example the influence of deposition time t, substrate temperature T_s, and atomic hydrogen concentration [H] on the film deposition rate, surface roughness, and H embedded in the film under different processing conditions, were systematically analyzed and compared. And the adsorption of various species on {111}-oriented diamond cluster was preliminarily computed from electronic scale by Local Density Approximation (LDA) method to assist understanding the surface adsorption mechanism. It is indicated that the film morphology and quality obtained from atomic scale KMC simulation varies according to the chemical reaction models. And our initial electronic scale computation on {111}-oriented diamond cluster showed that single-carbon species can be adsorbed on the activated site more easily than double-carbon species and the former will result in a more stable state than the latter. In order to reveal the nano CVD diamond film growth mechanism, more work about various species adsorption on many different morphological CVD diamond surfaces is needed.