A Low Cost Synthesis and Characterization of CuO Nanoparticles for Photovoltaic Applications

A simple low cost chemical route has been used to synthesize cupric oxide nanoparticles. The synthesized CuO nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, TEM and UV-absorption. X-ray diffraction analysis showed the synthesized nanoparticles to be a pure cupric oxide. EDAX analysis showed the presence of copper and Oxygen in the as prepared CuO nano particles, with the AAS indicating that Cu2+ represented 53.5% of the sample. The particle size and particle size distribution of the cupric oxide nanoparticles were obtained by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) whereas the crystallite size and crystallite size distribution were obtained by X-ray diffraction. The particle size was found to be between 20 nm and 60 nm. The particle size distribution obtained from cumulative percentage frequency plots features a log-normal function. Absorbance measurements and analysis showed that the material has an absorbance peak at 314 nm and energy bandgap of 1.48 eV, making it a good candidate for photovoltaic applications

Impact of material composition and food waste decomposition on characteristics of fuel briquettes

This study investigated the potential of using locally available municipal solid wastes (MSW) (such as food wastes from restaurants, charcoal dust, coconut husk and shell, and sawdust) as feedstock to produce noncarbonized fuel briquettes. A low-cost briquetting machine sourced from Alfaster Industries in Kenya served to demonstrate the concept. Using decomposed food waste resulted in briquettes with higher bulk density (+4%), greater net calorific value (+18%) and lower burning rate (-24%), compared to the use of regular food waste. There was no significant difference in ash content from the two briquette types. The results also indicate that decomposing food waste and mixing it with tree-based raw materials such as coconut waste, charcoal waste or sawdust improves the quality of briquettes, and enhances the temperatures achieved during combustion. This recycling solution has the potential to serve multiple benefits in MSW management for sustainable cities while reducing rural land degradation and deforestation