TiO<inf>2</inf>/graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet composite with enhanced sensitivity to atmospheric water
Issued Date
2023-02-20
Resource Type
eISSN
20462069
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85149565977
Journal Title
RSC Advances
Volume
13
Issue
9
Start Page
6143
End Page
6152
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
RSC Advances Vol.13 No.9 (2023) , 6143-6152
Suggested Citation
Maluangnont T., Pulphol P., Pongampai S., Kobkeatthawin T., Smith S.M., Vittayakorn N. TiO<inf>2</inf>/graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet composite with enhanced sensitivity to atmospheric water. RSC Advances Vol.13 No.9 (2023) , 6143-6152. 6152. doi:10.1039/d3ra00045a Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/81712
Title
TiO<inf>2</inf>/graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet composite with enhanced sensitivity to atmospheric water
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
Understanding the fundamentals of transport properties in two-dimensional (2D) materials is essential for their applications in devices, sensors, and so on. Herein, we report the impedance spectroscopic study of carbon nitride nanosheets (CNNS) and the composite with anatase (TiO2/CNNS, 20 atom% Ti), including their interaction with atmospheric water. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption/desorption, solid state 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. It is found that CNNS is highly insulating (resistivity ρ ∼ 1010 Ω cm) and its impedance barely changes during a 20 min-measurement at room temperature and 70% relative humidity. Meanwhile, incorporating the semiconducting TiO2 nanoparticles (∼10 nm) reduces ρ by one order of magnitude, and the decreased ρ is proportional to the exposure time to atmospheric water. Sorbed water shows up at low frequency (<102 Hz) with relaxation time in milliseconds, but the response intrinsic to CNNS and TiO2/CNNS is evident at higher frequency (>104 Hz) with relaxation time in microseconds. These two signals apparently correlate to the endothermic peak at ≤110 °C and >250 °C, respectively, in differential scanning calorimetry experiments. Universal power law analysis suggests charge hopping across the 3D conduction pathways, consistent with the capacitance in picofarad typical of grain response. Our work demonstrates that the use of various formalisms (i.e., impedance, permittivity, conductivity, and modulus) combined with a simple universal power law analysis provides insights into water-induced transport of the TiO2/CNNS composite without complicated curve fitting procedure or dedicated humidity control.