Surfactant controlled metal oxide shell layer deposition for enhanced photocatalytic solar hydrogen generation: CdSe/TiO2 nanocomposite a case study

The present work demonstrates the effect of cationic, anionic and nonionic surfactants on synthesizing nanoscale thin TiO 2 shell layer deposited on to pre-synthesized CdSe capsulelike nanoparticles.We benchmark a suitable surfactant for synthesizing homogenous, controlled TiO 2 post-deposition onto host 1-D CdSe surface without any complex research tools.Also, we examine the inter-dependence material property and photocatalytic performance in solar hydrogen generation.The generic synthesis of surfactant controlled nanoscale deposition route can transfer to a wide range of semiconductor materials where the surface functional property plays a crucial role.