Effect of Au Nanoparticles and Scattering Layer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Freestanding TiO2 Nanotube Arrays

Synthesis and Applications of Optical Materials

As optical materials have shown outstanding physical and chemical characteristics in the bio, medical, electronics, energy and related fields of studies, the potential benefits of using these materials have been widely recognized [...].

In Situ Decoration of ZnSnO3 Nanosheets on the Surface of Hollow Zn2SnO4 Octahedrons for Enhanced Solar Energy Application

Hierarchical ZnSnO₃/Zn₂SnO₄ porous hollow octahedrons were constructed using the method of combining the acid etching process with the in situ decoration technique for photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications. The composite was used as photoanode of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), an overall 4.31% photovoltaic conversion efficiency was obtained, nearly a 73.1% improvement over the DSSCs that used Zn₂SnO₄ solid octahedrons. The composite was also determined to be a high-performance photocatalyst for the removal of heavy metal ion Cr (VI) and antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) in single and co-existing systems under simulated sunlight irradiation. It was remarkable that the composite displayed good reusability and stability in a co-existing system, and the simultaneous removal performance could be restored by a simple acid treatment. These improvements of solar energy utilization were ascribed to the synergetic effect of the hierarchical porous hollow morphology, the introduction of ZnSnO₃ nanosheets, and the heterojunction formed between ZnSnO₃ and Zn₂SnO₄, which could improve light harvesting capacity, expedite electron transport and charge-separation efficiencies.

Iron Modified Titanate Nanotube Arrays for Photoelectrochemical Removal of E. coli

This study used iron modified titanate nanotube arrays (Fe/TNAs) to remove E. coli in a photoelectrochemical system. The Fe/TNAs was synthesized by the anodization method and followed by the square wave voltammetry electrochemical deposition (SWVE) method with ferric nitrate as the precursor. Fe/TNAs were characterized by SEM, XRD, XPS, and UV-vis DRS to investigate the surface properties and light absorption. As a result, the iron nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully deposited on the tubular structure of the TNAs, which showed the best light utilization. Moreover, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of the Fe/TNAs were measured by current-light response and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The photocurrent of the Fe/TNAs-0.5 (3.5 mA/cm2) was higher than TNAs (2.0 mA/cm2) and electron lifetime of Fe/TNAs-0.5 (433.3 ms) were also longer than TNAs (290.3 ms). Compared to the photolytic (P), photocatalytic (PC), and electrochemical (EC) method, Fe/TNAs PEC showed the best removal efficiency for methyl orange degradation. Furthermore, the Fe/TNAs PEC system also performed better removal efficiency than that of photolysis method in E. coli degradation experiments.