Nanomaterials for Environmental

and Energy Applications

Pre-seminar Material

Speaker: Prof. Jimmy YU

The Chinese University of Hong Kong
 Curriculum Link
This seminar builds on knowledge learnt in the
DSE curriculum:
•Chemistry: Topics II, VII & XIV
•Combined Science (Chemistry): Topics II & VI
**Please watch the pre-seminar material of ‘Colour Chemistry’ before proceeding to the
next slide.**

Carbon nanotube
Buckminsterfullerene (C60)
Source of images: Wikipedia
 Nanotechnology
• The creation of functional materials, devices
and systems through control of matter at the
scale of 1 to 100 nm, and the exploitation of
novel properties and phenomena at the same
scale.
• Properties of materials are very different at
the nano-scale (1nm = 10-9m) than those at
the macroscopic scale.
 Change of Energy Level
• As you have learnt in the pre-seminar material
of‘Colour Chemistry’, both atoms and
molecules have their own energy levels.
• The energy gap between the energy levels of a
substance will be different if its structure or
dimension changes.
• Consequently, substances have different
properties (such as optical and electrical
properties) at nano-scale.
 Electronic Transition
• An electron in an atom or a molecule can be
promoted from a lower energy level to a higher
energy level by absorption of electromagnetic
radiation (or some other forms of energy). This is
called excitation. The electron will then fall to a
lower energy level with release of energy.
Release of energy
Excitation
Light
(or some other Emission
forms of
energy like
heat)
Energy levels Energy levels
 Titanium(IV) oxide
• Titanium(IV) oxide (TiO2) is a white solid.
• It has various types of crystal structures.
• TiO2 has a wide range of applications, e.g. white
pigment in cosmetic products or food colourant.
• TiO2 nanoparticles can be used as a photocatalyst
under UV light. It can help remove pollutants in
waste water and air.
• The next slide provides an explanation of its
action under UV light.
 Electronic Transitions in TiO2
(An electron is a strong reducing agent.)
O2- (strong oxidising agent)
Higher energy level Electron captured by

UV light O2
Lower energy level
TiO2
There is an electron loss in TiO2 so it behaves as a cationic species, [TiO2]+ (a strong
oxidising agent), which will abstract an electron from water to form hydroxyl
radical and hydrogen ion.

H2O + [TiO2]+ H+ + OH + TiO2

Hydroxyl radical

See next slide for the mechanism

 Mechanism (1)
Electron donor (good reducing agent)
UV light

Electron acceptor
(good oxidising agent)
TiO2* (excited state)
 Mechanism (2)

O2- (strong oxidising agent)

O2


H OH

H+ OH (strong oxidising agent)

TiO2
 Removal of pollutants
• Hydroxyl radicals (HO) formed in the photocatalysis
are strong oxidising agents.
• They can rapidly oxidise organic compounds finally to
CO2 and H2O.
• TiO2 incorporated in outdoor paving stones can
substantially reduce air pollutants such as nitrogen
oxides and volatile organic
compounds (VOCs).
 Other Applications
• Other applications such as TiO2 in photovoltaic
cells will be introduced in the seminar.
 Glossary (詞彙)
Nanomaterial 納米物料
Buckminsterfullerene 布克碳
Carbon nanotube 碳納米管
Excitation 激發
Dipolar species 偶極的物種
Nanoparticle 納米粒子
Photocatalyst 光催化劑
Photovoltaic cell 光伏電池
Scanning tunneling microscope 穿隧顯微鏡
Thin-film solar cell 薄膜太陽能電池
Hydroxyl radical 羥基自由基
 EDB Glossary
• The link to EDB Glossary (Chinese/English) is
http://www.edb.gov.hk/tc/curriculum-
development/kla/science-edu/ref-and-
resources/glossary.html