Visible light activation photocatalytic performance of PbSe quantum dot sensitized TiO2 Nanowires.

In this paper we describe the use of differently sized PbSe quantum dots as photosensitizers for anatase TiO 2 nanowires under visible light illumination. After the organometallic synthesis of PbSe quantum dots with three different average diameters (1.8, 2.5 and 4.7 nm), the nanocrystals were attached to the surface of nanowires with thioglycolic acid as a linker molecule. These quantum dot decorated nanowires were used as photocatalyst in the methyl orange degradation model reaction with promising results. The best performance achieved was 90% degradation of the initial concentration of methyl orange in six hours over 2.5 nm PbSe quantum dot sensitized nanowires using a 40 W quartz UV lamp equipped with a 400 nm cut-off filter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]