Development of nanostructure control process in the solution for application to energy and environmental fields

Abstract

The nanostructure control processes based on crystal growth in the solution are introduced. In the main, the self-template method is mentioned. The intermediate compounds such as metal hydroxides obtained by the crystal growth process play a role of selftemplate. After conversion of intermediate compounds with nanostructure such as nanosheet, the materials with the morphology, which reflects the morphology of the self-template, are obtained. The resultant materials are nanostructured materials with specific morphology. In addition, various nanostructured materials are fabricated by self-template methods through hydrothermal process or flux process. As the applications, dye-sensitized solar cells and Li ion batteries are measured. Moreover, the nanostructure control technique in the solution is used for not only electrochemical devices but also the fabrication of superhydrophobic films. © 2012 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.