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Sinha R. Design of Aluminum Doped ZnO/Phenyl-C-Butyric Acid Methyl Ester/Tungsten Disulfide (AZO/PCBM/WS 2) Heterojunction-Based Device for Applications in Solar Cells and Broadband Self-Powered Photodetectors. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2024; 40:7114-7126. [PMID: 38501958 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c00251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
The domain related to the use of renewable energy is showing high interest among the researchers in the current days, and light energy can be considered as one of such. Solar cells are the kind of devices that use light energy in an efficient way to generate electricity. Hence, designing and developing a solar cell requires meticulous attention to get an optimum output. This work focuses on designing and optimization of aluminum dope ZnO/phenyl-C-butyric acid methyl ester/tungsten disulfide (AZO/PCBM/WS2) heterojunction-based device for applications in solar cells. Moreover, considering the high demand of optoelectronics like photodetectors, this work also uncovers the capabilities of the device in the applications of broadband self-powered photodetectors. The optimized values of several parameters of the device such as the thickness and doping density of the WS2 layer, the defect density of the WS2 layer, and the interface PCBM/WS2 were 2 μm, 1017 cm-3, 1014 cm-3, and 1010 cm-2, respectively. These optimal conditions facilitated in obtaining fill factor and efficiency values of 84.78 and 23.92%, respectively. Further, the photodetection performance was evaluated with the parameters like responsivity and detectivity. The maximum calculated responsivity of the device at 0 V bias was 0.63 A/W at 880 nm, whereas the maximum detectivity was 1.54 × 1013 Jones. This study also extensively focuses on the in-depth understanding of the physics associated with the movement of the charge carriers under the illuminated conditions by studying the band diagrams and the electric fields of the heterojunctions at various conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rupam Sinha
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Gandipet, Hyderabad, Telangana 500075, India
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Rarotra S, Singh AK, Mandal TK, Bandyopadhyay D. Co-electrolysis of seawater and carbon dioxide inside a microfluidic reactor to synthesize speciality organics. Sci Rep 2023; 13:10298. [PMID: 37365171 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-34456-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
We report co-electrolysis of seawater and carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in a solar cell-integrated membraneless microfluidic reactor for continuous synthesis of organic products. The microfluidic reactor was fabricated using polydimethylsiloxane substrate comprising of a central microchannel with a pair of inlets for injection of CO2 gas and seawater and an outlet for removal of organic products. A pair of copper electrodes were inserted into microchannel to ensure its direct interaction with incoming CO2 gas and seawater as they pass into the microchannel. The coupling of solar cell panels with electrodes generated a high-intensity electrical field across the electrodes at low voltage, which facilitated the co-electrolysis of CO2 and seawater. The paired electrolysis of CO2 gas and seawater produced a range of industrially important organics under influence of solar cell-mediated external electric field. The, as synthesized, organic compounds were collected downstream and identified using characterization techniques. Furthermore, the probable underlying electrochemical reaction mechanisms near the electrodes were proposed for synthesis of organic products. The inclusion of greenhouse CO2 gas as reactant, seawater as electrolyte, and solar energy as an inexpensive electric source for co-electrolysis initiation makes the microreactor a low-cost and sustainable alternative for CO2 sequestration and synthesis of organic compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saptak Rarotra
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India
- Energy Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637553, Singapore
| | - Amit Kumar Singh
- Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India.
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA.
| | - Tapas Kumar Mandal
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India
- Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India
| | - Dipankar Bandyopadhyay
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India.
- Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India.
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Hermawan A, Amrillah T, Alviani VN, Raharjo J, Seh ZW, Tsuchiya N. Upcycling air pollutants to fuels and chemicals via electrochemical reduction technology. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2023; 334:117477. [PMID: 36780811 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2022] [Revised: 02/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The intensification of fossil fuel usage results in significant air pollution levels. Efforts have been put into developing efficient technologies capable of converting air pollution into valuable products, including fuels and valuable chemicals (e.g., CO2 to hydrocarbon and syngas and NOx to ammonia). Among the strategic efforts to mitigate the excessive concentration of CO2 and NOx pollutants in the atmosphere, the electrochemical reduction technology of CO2 (CO2RR) and NOx (NOxRR) emerges as one of the most promising approaches. It is even more attractive if CO2RR and NOxRR are paired with renewables to store intermittent electricity in the form of chemical feedstocks. This review provides an overview of the electrochemical reduction process to convert CO2 to C1 and/or C2+ chemicals and NOx to ammonia (NH3) with a focus on electrocatalysts, electrolytes, electrolyzer, and catalytic reactor designs toward highly selective electrochemical conversion of the desired products. While the attempts in these aspects are enormous, economic consideration and environmental feasibility for actual implementation are not comprehensively provided. We discuss CO2RR and NOxRR from the life cycle and techno-economic analyses to perceive the feasibility of the current achievements. The remaining challenges associated with the industrial implementation of electrochemical CO2 and NOx reduction are additionally provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angga Hermawan
- Research Center for Advanced Materials, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), South Tangerang City, Banten, 15314, Indonesia.
| | - Tahta Amrillah
- Department of Nanotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Technology and Multidiscipline, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, 60115, Indonesia
| | - Vani Novita Alviani
- Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, 9808579, Japan
| | - Jarot Raharjo
- Research Center for Advanced Materials, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), South Tangerang City, Banten, 15314, Indonesia
| | - Zhi Wei Seh
- Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, 138634, Singapore
| | - Noriyoshi Tsuchiya
- Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, 9808579, Japan
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Sinha R, Roy N, Mandal TK. N-Doped Carbon Dots and ZnO Conglomerated Electrodes for Optically Responsive Supercapacitor Applications. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2023; 39:4518-4529. [PMID: 36917688 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The over-dependence of human society on fossil fuels for energy is exhausting the level of such non-renewable energy sources. Alternative energy storage systems have gained more popularity recently to counter this issue. In this context, we report the fabrication of N-doped carbon dot (N-CD)-decorated ZnO-based electrodes for supercapacitor applications. Due to the light-responsive nature of the N-CDs and ZnO, the electrode was also responsive under the influence of UV light. After the experimental tests, it was found that the areal capacitance value of the supercapacitor increased upto ∼58.9% when illuminated compared to that under the dark conditions. Moreover, the device showed a maximum areal capacitance of 2.6 mF/cm2 after photocharging and galvanostatically discharging at a current density value of 1.6 μA/cm2, which is quite comparable with the previously reported data. The doping of N-CDs with ZnO showed a significant improvement in the areal capacitance value under both illuminated (∼58.64%) and dark conditions (∼22.08%) compared to the case of pristine ZnO, which justifies the purpose of attaching N-CDs with ZnO. Therefore, in brief, we have fabricated a photoresponsive electrode material for supercapacitor application by combining N-CDs and ZnO. An explicit electrochemical characterization of the electrode was also done to identify the contribution from diffusion-controlled capacitance and double layer capacitance, and it was observed that the diffusion-controlled capacitance gets reduced from 59.1 to 33.6% when the scan rate is increased from 2 to 75 mV/s. Moreover, a detailed study has also been done to understand the reaction mechanism. It was confirmed that the defects in the electrode material played a vital role in the intercalation of K+ ions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rupam Sinha
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Gandipet 500075, Telangana, India
| | - Nirmal Roy
- School of Electronics Engineering, VIT-AP University, Amaravati 522237, Andhra Pradesh, India
| | - Tapas K Mandal
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India
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Production of performic acid through a capillary microreactor by heterogeneous catalyst. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL REACTOR ENGINEERING 2022. [DOI: 10.1515/ijcre-2022-0020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Microreactors are small in size with significant heat and mass transfer. Performic acid (PFA) is an important organic compound. It has broad applications in food, oil and chemical industries because of its oxidizing properties. In the present work PFA is produced in a continuous flow Teflon spiral capillary microreactor. The PFA is produced with and without a heterogeneous catalyst. The formic acid (FA) and hydrogen peroxide (HP) are the reactants to produce the PFA. It is a reversible reaction. The aim of the present work to monitor the consequence of hydrogen peroxide concentration, temperature and heterogeneous catalyst (Amberlite) for conversion of the FA. The experimental results showed that the formation of the PFA is effected with increase in hydrogen peroxide concentration, percentage of catalyst and temperature. The PFA formed within short residence time by the use of solid catalyst. The heterogeneous catalysts are better in decreasing corrosion and segregation of the catalyst compared to homogeneous catalysts. The best conditions for the PFA synthesis reaction were noted that 10 min residence time, 30 w/v% of HP, 6 wt% of catalyst concentration based on formic acid and 30 °C. Hence, the maximum concentration of the PFA was recorded 2.8 mol/L (XFA = 39.4%)
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Senthilkumar P, Mohapatra M, Basu S. The inchoate horizon of electrolyzer designs, membranes and catalysts towards highly efficient electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid. RSC Adv 2022; 12:1287-1309. [PMID: 35425201 PMCID: PMC8979072 DOI: 10.1039/d1ra05062a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
This review explores the recent advances in CO2 reactor configurations, components, membranes and electrocatalysts for HCOOH generation and draw readers attention to construct the economic, scalable and energy efficient CO2R electrolyzers.
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Affiliation(s)
- P. Senthilkumar
- CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India-751013
| | - Mamata Mohapatra
- CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India-751013
| | - Suddhasatwa Basu
- CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India-751013
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Du J, Xin Y, Dong M, Yang J, Xu Q, Liu H, Han B. Copper/Carbon Heterogenous Interfaces for Enhanced Selective Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO 2 to Formate. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2021; 17:e2102629. [PMID: 34510751 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202102629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Revised: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2 RR) to formate is a promising route to prepare value-added chemical. Developing low-cost and efficient electrocatalysts with high product selectivity is still a grand challenge. Herein, a novel Cu anchored on hollow carbon spheres catalysts (HCS/Cu-x, x represents the mass of CuCl2 added in the system) is designed with controllable copper/carbon heterogenous interfaces. Rich copper/carbon heterogenous interfaces and hollow structure of optimized HCS/Cu-0.12 catalyst are beneficial to charge transmission. Compared with the CO2 RR occurred in aqueous electrolyte over Cu-based catalyst that has been reported to date, it exhibits highest formate Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 82.4% with a current density of 26 mA cm-2 and remarkable stability in a H-cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Du
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- School of Chemical Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Yu Xin
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- School of Chemical Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Minghua Dong
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- School of Chemical Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Junjuan Yang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
| | - Qingling Xu
- School of Chemical Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Huizhen Liu
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
| | - Buxing Han
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
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Abstract
Formic acid (HCOOH) as an inexpensive and versatile reagent has gained broad
attention in the field of green synthesis and chemical industry. Formic acid acts not only as a
convenient and less toxic CO surrogate, but also as an excellent formylative reagent, C1
source and hydrogen donor in organic reactions. Over the past decades, many exciting contributions
have been made which have helped chemists to understand the mechanisms of these
reactions. The review will examine recent advances in the utilization of formic acid as an
economical, practical and multipurpose reactant in synthetic transformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Hua Cai
- School of Chemical Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Su-qian Cai
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 117004, China
| | - Bing Xie
- School of Chemical Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang 550025, China
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