TY - JOUR
T1 - Spin coating immobilisation of c-n-tio2 co-doped nano catalyst on glass and application for photocatalysis or as electron transporting layer for perovskite solar cells
AU - Mouele, Emile Salomon Massima
AU - Ngqoloda, Siphelo
AU - Pescetelli, Sara
AU - Di Carlo, Aldo
AU - Dinu, Mihaela
AU - Vladescu, Alina
AU - Parau, Anca Constantina
AU - Agresti, Antonio
AU - Braic, Mariana
AU - Arendse, Christopher J.
AU - Petrik, Leslie Felicia
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The authors are thankful for the financial support from NRF South Africa. M.D., A.V., A.C.P., and M.B. are grateful for the support of the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation through the Core Program, Project No. 18N/2019.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: We thank NRF South Africa for the financial support of this Project. M.D., A.V., A.C.P., and M.B. acknowledge the support of the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation through the Core Program, Project No. 18N/2019, the infrastructure project INOVA-OPTIMA SMIS code 49164, contract No. 658/2014, and the PROINSTITUTIO Project–contract No. 19PFE/17.10.2018 as well as the European Regional Development Fund through Competitiveness Operational Programme 2014-2020, Action 1.1.3 Creating synergies with H2020 Programme, project H2020 Support Centre for European project management and European promotion, MYSMIS code 107874 for funding. Aldo Di Carlo gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the framework of MegaGrant (No. 075-15-2019-872 /074-02-2018-327). Antonio Agresti and Sara Pescetelli gratefully acknowledge funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research Innovation Program under grant agreement graphene Core3 SGA881603.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - Producing active thin films coated on supports resolves many issues of powder-based photo catalysis and energy harvesting. In this study, thin films of C-N-TiO2 were prepared by dynamic spin coating of C-N-TiO2 sol-gel on glass support. The effect of spin speed and sol gel precursor to solvent volume ratio on the film thickness was investigated. The C-N-TiO2-coated glass was annealed at 350 °C at a ramping rate of 10 °C/min with a holding time of 2 hours under a continuous flow of dry N2. The C-N-TiO2 films were characterised by profilometry analysis, light microscopy (LM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The outcomes of this study proved that a spin coating technique followed by an annealing process to stabilise the layer could be used for immobilisation of the photo catalyst on glass. The exposure of C-N-TiO2 films to UV radiation induced photocatalytic decolouration of orange II (O.II) dye. The prepared C-N-TiO2 films showed a reasonable power conversion efficiency average (PCE of 9%) with respect to the reference device (15%). The study offers a feasible route for the engineering of C-N-TiO2 films applicable to wastewater remediation processes and energy harvesting in solar cell technologies.
AB - Producing active thin films coated on supports resolves many issues of powder-based photo catalysis and energy harvesting. In this study, thin films of C-N-TiO2 were prepared by dynamic spin coating of C-N-TiO2 sol-gel on glass support. The effect of spin speed and sol gel precursor to solvent volume ratio on the film thickness was investigated. The C-N-TiO2-coated glass was annealed at 350 °C at a ramping rate of 10 °C/min with a holding time of 2 hours under a continuous flow of dry N2. The C-N-TiO2 films were characterised by profilometry analysis, light microscopy (LM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The outcomes of this study proved that a spin coating technique followed by an annealing process to stabilise the layer could be used for immobilisation of the photo catalyst on glass. The exposure of C-N-TiO2 films to UV radiation induced photocatalytic decolouration of orange II (O.II) dye. The prepared C-N-TiO2 films showed a reasonable power conversion efficiency average (PCE of 9%) with respect to the reference device (15%). The study offers a feasible route for the engineering of C-N-TiO2 films applicable to wastewater remediation processes and energy harvesting in solar cell technologies.
KW - Energy harvesting
KW - Film thickness
KW - Immobilisation
KW - Perovskite solar cells
KW - Photocatalytic decolouration
KW - Spin coating
KW - Thin film
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U2 - 10.3390/coatings10111029
DO - 10.3390/coatings10111029
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85094126443
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 24
JO - Coatings
JF - Coatings
SN - 2079-6412
IS - 11
M1 - 1029
ER -