The effects of water, substrate, and intermediate adsorption on the photocatalytic decomposition of air pollutants over nano-TiO2 photocatalysts

The photocatalytic performance of nano-TiO2 photocatalysts in air pollutant degradation greatly depends on the adsorption of water, substrates, and intermediates. Especially under excessive humidity, substrate concentration, and intermediate concentration, the competitive adsorption of water, substrates, and intermediates can seriously inhibit the photocatalytic performance. In the past few years, extensive studies have been performed to investigate the influence of humidity, substrate concentration, and intermediates on the photocatalytic performance of TiO2, and significant advances have been made in the area. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no review focusing on the effects of water, substrate, and intermediate adsorption to date. A comprehensive understanding of their mechanisms is key to overcoming the limited application of nano-TiO2 photocatalysts in the photocatalytic decomposition of air pollutants. In this review, the progress in experimental and theoretical fields, including a recent combination of photocatalytic experiments and adsorption and photocatalytic simulations by density functional theory (DFT), to explore the impact of adsorption of various reaction components on nano-TiO2 photocatalysts is comprehensively summarized. Additionally, the mechanism and broad perspective of the impact of their adsorption on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 in air treatment are also critically discussed. Finally, several solutions are proposed to resolve the current problems related to environmental factors. In general, this review contributes a comprehensive perspective of water, substrate, and intermediate adsorption toward boosting the photocatalytic application of TiO2 nanomaterials.

Review of State of the Art Recycling Methods in the Context of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

In times of climate change and dwindling fossil resources, the need for sustainable renewable energy technologies gains importance, increasingly fast. However, the state of the art technologies are energy intensive in their production, like monocrystalline photovoltaic, or even consist of not recyclable composite material, in the case of wind turbine blades. Despite a lack in efficiency and stability, dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have a high potential to supplement the state of the art green energy technology in future. With low production costs and no necessity for toxic compounds DSSCs are a potential product, which could circulate in the loops of a circular economy. Therefore, with this paper, we provide the status of research on DSSC recycling and an outlook on how recycling streams could be realized in the future for glass-based DSSCs without toxic components. The overview includes work on using recycled material to build DSSCs and extending the life of a DSSC, e.g., through rehydration. We also illustrate the state of sustainability research for DSSCs using the VOSviewer tool. To date, the term sustainability appears in 35 of 24,441 publications on DSSCs. In view of the global challenges, sustainability should be researched more seriously because it is as important as the efficiency and stability of DSSCs.

Understanding the effects of the co-sensitizing ratio on the surface potential, electron injection efficiency, and Förster resonance energy transfer

Multiple absorbers that function in different absorption regions (near infra-red (NIR) and UV-Visible (UV-Vis)) have been widely used in solar cell applications to enhance the light-harvesting.

C-doped anatase TiO2: Adsorption kinetics and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and phenol, and correlations with DFT estimations

This work shows an easy and eco-friendly methodology to obtain almost pristine anatase phase of TiO₂ by using furfural, a biomass-derived molecule, as a bio-template. The photocatalytic activity was studied following the degradation of methylene blue and phenol under artificial solar irradiation. Results were compared against those obtained on a commercial pristine anatase TiO₂. The pseudo first-order, the second-order and the intraparticle diffusion kinetic models were verified. The textural and surface chemistry properties of the materials were correlated with the surface density of molecules adsorbed in equilibrium. The reaction-rate showed an almost perfect quadratic regression as a function of the surface density. Theoretical estimations of the density of states by DFT + U were performed showing that the total electron charge in the oxygen bonded to anatase TiO₂ increased due to carbon doping in agreement with the prediction of appearance of atomic orbitals 2p from carbon atom in the hybrid material. C-doping is responsible of the red-shift from 3.14 to 2.94 eV observed for a Ti₁₅O₃₂C super-cell than pristine anatase Ti₁₆O_32. The increase in the activity of the C-doped TiO₂ photocatalyst was due to the decrease in the energy band-gap promoting a higher absorption of photons from the visible light.

Exploring the electrochemical properties of hole transport materials with spiro-cores for efficient perovskite solar cells from first-principles

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with organic small molecules as hole transport materials (HTMs) have attracted considerable attention due to their power conversion efficiencies as high as 20%. In the present work, three new spiro-type hole transport materials with spiro-cores, i.e. Spiro-F1, Spiro-F2 and Spiro-F3, are investigated by using density functional theory combined with the Marcus theory and Einstein relation. Based on the calculated and experimental highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels of 30 reference molecules, an empirical equation, which can predict the HOMO levels of hole transport materials accurately, is proposed. Moreover, a simplified method, in which the hole transport pathways are simplified to be one-dimensional, is presented and adopted to qualitatively compare the molecular hole mobilities. The calculated results show that the perovskite solar cells with the new hole transport materials can have higher open-circuit voltages due to the lower HOMO levels of Spiro-F1 (-5.31 eV), Spiro-F2 (-5.42 eV) and Spiro-F3 (-5.10 eV) compared with that of Spiro-OMeTAD (-5.09 eV). Furthermore, the hole mobilities of Spiro-F1 (1.75 × 10(-2) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)) and Spiro-F3 (7.59 × 10(-3) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)) are 3.1 and 1.4 times that of Spiro-OMeTAD (5.65 × 10(-3) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)) respectively, due to small reorganization energies and large transfer integrals. Interestingly, the stability properties of Spiro-F1 and Spiro-F2 are shown to be comparable to that of Spiro-OMeTAD, and the dimers of Spiro-F2 and Spiro-F3 possess better stability than that of Spiro-OMeTAD. Taking into consideration the appropriate HOMO level, improved hole mobility and enhanced stability, Spiro-F1 and Spiro-F3 may become the most promising alternatives to Spiro-OMeTAD. The present work offers a new design strategy and reliable calculation methods towards the development of excellent organic small molecules as HTMs for highly efficient and stable PSCs.

The influence of a dye–TiO2 interface on DSSC performance: a theoretical exploration with a ruthenium dye

Slight modification of dye–TiO₂ interface structure induces significant changes in the photo-generated current density.

An experimental and theoretical study on the electronic and structural properties of CdSe@TiO2 nanotube arrays

The effects of the structural and electronic parameters on the water splitting over CdSe@TiO₂NT were investigated using experimental and theoretical methods.

Dynamic Characteristics of Aggregation Effects of Organic Dyes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Two organic dyes (LS-1 and IQ4) containing identical electron donor and acceptor units but distinct π units result in significantly different power conversion efficiency of the corresponding dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs): LS-1, 4.4%, and IQ4, 9.2%. Herein, we combine first-principle calculations and molecular dynamics to explore the aggregation effects of LS-1 and IQ4 by comparing their optical properties and intermolecular electronic couplings. The calculated absorption spectra are in good agreement with the experimental observations and reveal them to be evidently affected by the dimerization. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations show that steric hindrance induced by the diphenylquinoxaline unit in IQ4 can elongate the distances between intermolecular π units or electron donors, which are responsible for the fact that the intermolecular electronic coupling of LS-1 is about 10 times larger than that of IQ4. More importantly, the aggregated IQ4 remains almost perpendicular to the TiO2 surface, whereas LS-1 gradually tilts during the dynamic simulation, impacting electron injection and recombination in several ways, which clarifies why IQ4 leads to larger photocurrent and higher conversion efficiency. The deep understanding of the dye aggregation effects sheds new light on the complex factors determining DSSC function and paves the way for rational design of high-efficiency self-anti-aggregation sensitizers.

Molecular engineering of quinoxaline dyes toward more efficient sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells

N-annulated perylene-containing quinoxaline sensitizer (NIQ4) displays remarkable performance in light harvesting, electron injection, and dye regeneration.