Enhanced photo-fenton and photoelectrochemical activities in nitrogen doped brownmillerite KBiFe2O5.

Visible-light-driven photo-fenton-like catalytic activity and photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of nitrogen-doped brownmillerite KBiFe2O5 (KBFO) are investigated. The effective optical bandgap of KBFO reduces from 1.67 to 1.60 eV post N-doping, enabling both enhancement of visible light absorption and photoactivity. The photo-fenton activity of KBFO and N-doped KBFO samples were analysed by degrading effluents like Methylene Blue (MB), Bisphenol-A (BPA) and antibiotics such as Norfloxacin (NOX) and Doxycycline (DOX). 20 mmol of Nitrogen-doped KBFO (20N-KBFO) exhibits enhanced catalytic activity while degrading MB. 20N-KBFO sample is further tested for degradation of Bisphenol-A and antibiotics in the presence of H2O2 and chelating agent L-cysteine. Under optimum conditions, MB, BPA, and NOX, and DOX are degraded by 99.5% (0.042 min-1), 83% (0.016 min-1), 72% (0.011 min-1) and 95% (0.026 min-1) of its initial concentration respectively. Photocurrent density of 20N-KBFO improves to 8.83 mA/cm2 from 4.31 mA/cm2 for pure KBFO. Photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of N-doped KBFO make it a promising candidate for energy and environmental applications.

g-C3N4/Ca2Fe2O5 heterostructures for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic effluents under sunlight.

g-C3N4/Ca2Fe2O5 heterostructures were successfully prepared by incorporating g-C3N4 into Ca2Fe2O5 (CFO). As prepared g-C3N4/CFO heterostructures were initially utilized to photodegrade organic effluent Methylene blue (MB) for optimization of photodegradation performance. 50% g-C3N4 content in CFO composition showed an enhanced photodegradation efficiency (~ 96%) over g-C3N4 (48.15%) and CFO (81.9%) due to mitigation of recombination of photogenerated charge carriers by Type-II heterojunction. The optimized composition of heterostructure was further tested for degradation of Bisphenol-A (BPA) under direct sunlight, exhibiting enhanced photodegradation efficiency of about 63.1% over g-C3N4 (17%) and CFO (45.1%). The photoelectrochemical studies at various potentials with and without light illumination showed significant improvement in photocurrent response for g-C3N4/Ca2Fe2O5 heterostructures (~ 1.9 mA) over CFO (~ 67.4 µA). These studies revealed efficient solar energy harvesting ability of g-C3N4/Ca2Fe2O5 heterostructures to be utilized for organic effluent treatment.

Bifunctional investigation of ultra-small SnO2 nanoparticle decorated rGO for ozone sensing and supercapacitor applications.

Ultrasmall SnO2 nanoparticles with an average size of 7 nm were synthesized by a hydrothermal method and composited with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) through an ultrasonic assisted solution process. The structural, functional, morphological and compositional properties of synthesised SnO2 and rGO/SnO2 were studied by XRD, FTIR, HRSEM, HRTEM, XPS and Raman analyses. The prepared materials were developed as a film over a PVA/KOH conductive layer coated substrate with varying thickness of 3, 5 and 7 µm to study their ozone sensing characteristics at room temperature. The physico-chemical properties reveal that the fabricated SnO2 and rGO/SnO2 nanocomposite films have a strong interaction with the ozone gas. Among the fabricated composite films rGO/SnO2-S1 film exhibits high ozone sensing response (38%) at room temperature. Additionally, the electrochemical performance of SnO2 and rGO/SnO2 nanocomposites was analysed and the rGO/SnO2 nanocomposite exhibited higher specific capacitance (545 F g-1) than that of pure SnO2 (236 F g-1) at a current density of 1 A g-1 with higher cyclic stability (96%) than that of pure SnO2 (86%) at the current density of 20 A g-1 for a continuous 5000 charge-discharge cycles. Thus, the rGO/SnO2 nanocomposite showed an excellent ozone sensing and energy storage performance.

Investigations on the performance of poly(o-anisidine)/graphene nanocomposites for the electrochemical detection of NADH.

The electrocatalytic oxidation of dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) based on poly(o-anisidine)/graphene (POA/GR) nanocomposites modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was explored for the first time. POA/GR nanocomposites were synthesized via chemical oxidative polymerization method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopy results demonstrate that nanocomposites are successfully synthesized. An intriguing composite structure was observed using different ratios of o-anisidine monomer and graphene. The electrical properties and electrochemical properties of these nanocomposites are investigated by impedance spectroscopy technique and cyclic voltammetric (CV) method, respectively. The synthesized nanocomposites were used to modify glassy carbon electrode (GCE), and the modified electrodes were found to exhibit electrocatalytic activity for oxidation of NADH at low potential range of +0.045 V in a neutral environment. The fabricated sensor based on POA/GR31-modified GCE exhibited enhanced current response with very high sensitivity of 47.1 µA µM(-1) for the detection of NADH. The developed POA/GR-modified GCE exhibited excellent reproducibility, stability, and selectivity for the determination of NADH. The practical analytical utility of the proposed method was demonstrated by NADH spiked ascorbic acid (AA) and the results confirmed that the proposed method is suitable for the determination of NADH in the presence of AA. This can open up new opportunities for simple and selective detection of NADH and provide a promising platform for biosensor designs.

Spray deposition and characterization of nanostructured Li doped NiO thin films for application in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Transparent conducting Li (0-5 wt%) doped NiO thin films with preferential growth along the (111) plane were deposited onto glass substrates by pyrolytic decomposition of nickel nitrate and lithium chloride precursors at 500 °C in air. The effect of Li concentration on the structural, optical and transport properties of NiO thin films was studied by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), spectral transmittance, photoluminescence and linear four-probe resistivity. Activation energies as a function of Li concentration were deduced from the temperature dependent resistivity data measured in the range 300-448 K. The figure of merit was deduced by combining the spectral transmittance and sheet resistance values. The variation in properties of NiO thin film due to Li doping are discussed based on the above results. A dye-sensitized solar cell has also been fabricated for the optimized Li doped NiO thin film and the results are presented.