What does the electron trap mean and what is its benefit for photocatalytic reactions ?
Dear Meziani Hadjer
According to the research article:
Article Charge-Transfer Processes in Coupled Semiconductor Systems. ...
The lack of forbidden zones allows deep traps of electrons which make it possible to improve the characteristics of the catalyst as in the case of oxidizing and reducing photocatalytic reactions if I understood well the paper idea.
Best Regards.
To give you a general idea an electron trap is a localized defect in your material where the electric field forms a local maximum. The electron is attracted to it and can becomes "trapped" in position. Once trapped it also affect the local field and the passage of other electrons. A trap is associated with a characteristic time which is an approximation of how long an electron stays trapped before tunneling out or leaving by any other process. It is a measure of "how strong" the trap is. Any kind of defect can cause traps; substitution, dislocation, vacancy... Those defects can also be created by a strong electrical stress.