Influence of Sputtering Temperature of TiO2 Deposited onto Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanosheet as Efficient Photoanodes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.

Renewable solar energy is the key target to reduce fossil fuel consumption, minimize global warming issues, and indirectly minimizes erratic weather patterns. Herein, the authors synthesized an ultrathin reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheet with ~47 nm via an improved Hummer's method. The TiO2 was deposited by RF sputtering onto an rGO nanosheet with a variation of temperature to enhance the photogenerated electron or charge carrier mobility transport for the photoanode component. The morphology, topologies, element composition, crystallinity as well as dye-sensitized solar cells' (DSSCs) performance were determined accordingly. Based on the results, FTIR spectra revealed presence of Ti-O-C bonds in every rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite samples at 800 cm-1. Besides, XRD revealed that a broad peak of anatase TiO2 was detected at ~25.4° after incorporation with the rGO. Furthermore, it was discovered that sputtering temperature of 120 °C created a desired power conversion energy (PCE) of 7.27% based on the J-V plot. Further increase of the sputtering temperature to 160 °C and 200 °C led to excessive TiO2 growth on the rGO nanosheet, thus resulting in undesirable charge recombination formed at the photoanode in the DSSC device.

Disclosing the mutual influence of photocatalytic fuel cell and photoelectro-Fenton process in the fabrication of a sustainable hybrid system for efficient Amaranth dye removal and simultaneous electricity production.

Photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) was employed to provide renewable power sources to photoelectro-Fenton (PEF) process to fabricate a double-chambered hybrid system for the treatment of azo dye, Amaranth. The PFC-PEF hybrid system was interconnected by a circuit attached to the electrodes in PFC and PEF. Circuit connection is the principal channel for the electron transfer and mobility between PFC and PEF. Thus, different circuit connections were evaluated in the hybrid system for their influences on the Amaranth dye degradation. The PFC-PEF system under the complete circuit connection condition attained the highest decolourization efficiency of Amaranth (PFC: 98.85%; PEF: 95.69%), which indicated that the complete circuit connection was crucial for in-situ formation of reactive species in dye degradation. Besides, the pivotal role of ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation in the PFC-PEF system for both dye degradation and electricity generation was revealed through various UV light-illuminating conditions applied for PFC and PEF. A remarkable influence of UV light irradiation on the production of hydrogen peroxide and generation and regeneration of Fe2+ in PEF was demonstrated. This study provided a comprehensive mechanistic insight into the dye degradation and electricity generation by the PFC-PEF system.