Extremely Stable Photoinduced Charge Separation in a Colloidal System Composed of Semiconducting Niobate and Clay Nanosheets

Abstract

The further, the better! Photoinduced charge separation between a semiconducting nanosheet donor and the acceptor methylviologen (MV2+) is greatly stabilized in the presence of hectorite clay nanosheets. The distance between the donor and acceptor, which results from the formation of hectorite microdomains that selectively adsorb MV2+ ions, is key for this stabilization (see picture).