4 research outputs found
PHOTOACTIVE TUNGSTEN-OXIDE NANOMATERIALS FOR WATER-SPLITTING
This review focuses on tungsten oxide (WO3) and its nanocomposites as photoactive
nanomaterials for photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) applications since it possesses exceptional properties
such as photostability, high electron mobility (~12 cm2 V
−1
s
−1
) and a long hole-diffusion length
(~150 nm). Although WO3 has demonstrated oxygen-evolution capability in PEC, further increase
of its PEC efficiency is limited by high recombination rate of photogenerated electron/hole carriers
and slow charge transfer at the liquid–solid interface. To further increase the PEC efficiency of
the WO3 photocatalyst, designing WO3 nanocomposites via surface–interface engineering and
doping would be a great strategy to enhance the PEC performance via improving charge separation.
This review starts with the basic principle of water-splitting and physical chemistry properties of WO3,
that extends to various strategies to produce binary/ternary nanocomposites for PEC, particulate
photocatalysts, Z-schemes and tandem-cell applications. The effect of PEC crystalline structure and
nanomorphologies on efficiency are included. For both binary and ternary WO3 nanocomposite
systems, the PEC performance under different conditions—including synthesis approaches, various
electrolytes, morphologies and applied bias—are summarized. At the end of the review, a conclusion
and outlook section concluded the WO3 photocatalyst-based system with an overview of WO3
and their nanocomposites for photocatalytic applications and provided the readers with potential
research directions
Bioinspired study of energy and electron transfer in photovoltaic system
This study focuses on understanding the fundamentals of energy transfer and electron transport in photovoltaic devices with uniquely designed nanostructures by analysing energy transfer in purple photosynthetic bacteria using dye-sensitised solar cell systems. Förster resonance energy transfer between the xanthene dye (donor of energy) and a new polymethine dye (acceptor of energy) was studied in dye-sensitised solar cells, which leads to a doubling of energy conversion efficiency in comparison to the cell with only the polymethine dye. The electron transport in the two different nanostructures of zinc oxide (nanorods and nanosheets) was investigated by spectroscopic methods (UV-vis spectrometer, time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy) and electrochemical potentiostat methods. The nanosheet structure of zinc oxide showed high short circuit current and long diffusion length. This fundamental study will lead to efficient artificial photosystem designs
Bioinspired study of energy and electron transfer in photovoltaic system
<p>This study focuses on understanding the fundamentals of energy transfer and electron transport in photovoltaic devices with uniquely designed nanostructures by analysing energy transfer in purple photosynthetic bacteria using dye-sensitised solar cell systems. Förster resonance energy transfer between the xanthene dye (donor of energy) and a new polymethine dye (acceptor of energy) was studied in dye-sensitised solar cells, which leads to a doubling of energy conversion efficiency in comparison to the cell with only the polymethine dye. The electron transport in the two different nanostructures of zinc oxide (nanorods and nanosheets) was investigated by spectroscopic methods (UV-vis spectrometer, time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy) and electrochemical potentiostat methods. The nanosheet structure of zinc oxide showed high short circuit current and long diffusion length. This fundamental study will lead to efficient artificial photosystem designs.</p
Kinetics of Hydrogen Generation from Oxidation of Hydrogenated Silicon Nanocrystals in Aqueous Solutions
Hydrogen generation rate is one of the most important parameters which must be considered for the development of engineering solutions in the field of hydrogen energy applications. In this paper, the kinetics of hydrogen generation from oxidation of hydrogenated porous silicon nanopowders in water are analyzed in detail. The splitting of the Si-H bonds of the nanopowders and water molecules during the oxidation reaction results in powerful hydrogen generation. The described technology is shown to be perfectly tunable and allows us to manage the kinetics by: (i) varying size distribution and porosity of silicon nanoparticles; (ii) chemical composition of oxidizing solutions; (iii) ambient temperature. In particular, hydrogen release below 0 °C is one of the significant advantages of such a technological way of performing hydrogen generation