Facile synthesis of ZnO/TiO2 core-shell nanostructures and their photocatalytic activities

A Review of the Impact of Zinc Oxide Nanostructure Morphology on Perovskite Solar Cell Performance

Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been widely studied over the last decade for its remarkable properties in optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices because of its high electron mobility and excitonic properties. It has probably the broadest range of nanostructured forms that are also easy and cheap to synthesize using a wide variety of methods. The volume of recent work on ZnO nanostructures and their devices can potentially overshadow significant developments in the field. Therefore, there is a need for a concise description of the most recent advances in the field. In this review, we focus on the effect of ZnO nanostructure morphologies on the performance of ZnO-based solar cells sensitized using methylammonium lead iodide perovskite. We present an exhaustive discussion of the synthesis routes for different morphologies of the ZnO nanostructure, ways of controlling the morphology, and the impact of morphology on the photoconversion efficiency of a given perovskite solar cell (PSC). We find that although the ZnO nanostructures are empirically similar, one-dimensional structures appear to offer the most promise to increasing photoconversion efficiency (PCE) by their proclivity to align and form vertically stacked layers. This is thought to favor electron hopping, charge mobility, and conductivity by allowing multiple charge conduction pathways and increasing the effective junction cross-sectional area. The combined effect is a net increase in PCE due to the reduced surface reflection, and improved light absorption.

Hybrid ZnO nanostructures modified graphite electrode as an efficient urea sensor for environmental pollution monitoring

Herein, we propose a facile electrochemical sensing platform for urea detection using pencil graphite electrode modified nanocomposites of CuO/ZnO and Fe₂O₃/ZnO. The detection of urea is essential to monitor for identifying its pollution in the water, at the soil surface and in diagnosing urea cycle disorder related diseases. Therefore, an effective, accurate, cost-effective method of diagnosis is urgently needed. Nanostructured metal oxides have the potential ability to detect molecules even at trace level and to explore this, the present work is formulated with Cu and Fe based ZnO nanocomposites for enhancing the sensing performance towards electrochemical sensing of urea. The sensing responses were confirmed from the increase in oxidation current with respect to the concentration of urea. The results show that Fe₂O₃/ZnO coated graphite electrode has a higher response against urea compared to ZnO and CuO/ZnO. The cyclic voltammetry studies also validate urea sensing of Fe-ZnO in the linear range of 0.8 μg/mL to 4 μg/mL, with the detection limit of 2.5 μg/mL. This suggests that the cost-effective pencil graphite electrode modified Fe₂O₃/ZnO can be utilized as a promising analytical tool for urea sensing.

Ppb-Level Butanone Sensor Based on ZnO-TiO2-rGO Nanocomposites

In this paper, ZnO-TiO2-rGO nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The morphology and structure of the synthesized nanomaterials were characterized by SEM, XRD, HRTEM, and XPS. Butanone is a typical ketone product. The vapors are extremely harmful once exposed, triggering skin irritation in mild cases and affecting our breathing in severe cases. In this paper, the gas-sensing properties of TiO2, ZnO, ZnO-TiO2, and ZnO-TiO2-rGO nanomaterials to butanone vapor were studied. The optimum operating temperature of the ZnO-TiO2-rGO sensor is 145 °C, which is substantially lower than the other three sensors. The selectivity for butanone vapor is greatly improved, and the response is 5.6 times higher than that of other organic gases. The lower detection limit to butanone can reach 63 ppb. Therefore, the ZnO-TiO2-rGO sensor demonstrates excellent gas-sensing performance to butanone. Meanwhile, the gas-sensing mechanism of the ZnO-TiO2-rGO sensor to butanone vapor was also analyzed.

Metal chalcogenide-based core/shell photocatalysts for solar hydrogen production: Recent advances, properties and technology challenges

Metal chalcogenides play a vital role in the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen fuel technology can possibly tackle the future energy crises by replacing carbon fuels such as petroleum, diesel and kerosene, owning to zero emission carbon-free gas and eco-friendliness. Metal chalcogenides are classified into narrow band gap (CdS, Cu₂S, Bi₂S_3, MoS_2, CdSe and MoSe₂) materials and wide band gap materials (ZnS, ZnSe and ZnTe). Composites of these materials are fabricated with different architectures in which core-shell is one of the unique composites that drastically improve the photo-excitons separation, where chalcogenides in the core can be well protected for sustainable uses. Thus,the core-shell structures promote the design and fabrication of composites with the required characteristics. Interestingly, the metal chalcogenides as a core-shell photocatalyst can be classified into type-I, reverse type-I, type-II and S-type nanocomposites, which can effectively influence and significantly enhance the rate of hydrogen production. In this direction, this review is undertaken to provide a comprehensive overview of the advanced preparation processes, properties of metal chalcogenides, and in particular, photocatalytic performance of the metal chalcogenides as a core-shell photocatalysts for solar hydrogen production.

Characterization of Commercial TiO2 P90 Modified with ZnO by the Impregnation Method

This article is devoted to TiO2/ZnO nanocomposites’ creation by modifying with the commercial TiO2/P90 product using the impregnation method and identifying the effect of the ZnO modifier on its adsorption, structural, photocatalytic, and electrical properties. The synthesized TiO2/ZnO nanocomposites were characterized by XRD, XRF, XPS, and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption-desorption methods. As a result, nanostructured TiO2/ZnO composites with the ZnO content of 2, 5, 10, and 15% were obtained. It was shown that the phase composition of TiO2/P90 does not change during the nanocomposite synthesis. XPS studies of TiO2/ZnO nanocomposites indicated the presence of Ti4+, Zn2+, O2−, and OH states on their surface, which is associated with TiO2, ZnO, and hydroxide ions. The nitrogen adsorption-desorption method showed that the commercial TiO2/P90 sample is nonporous, and all TiO2/ZnO nanocomposites are characterized by almost the same homogeneous mesoporous structure. Experimentally established sorption and photocatalytic properties depend on the specific surface area and electrostatic interaction with dyes. The effect of the ZnO modifier on I-V characteristics of the TiO2/P90 sample was revealed. The obtained experimental data showed that the TiO2/P90 sample contains one type of current carriers, and TiO2/2ZnO and TiO2/5ZnO nanocomposites are characterized by two types of current carriers.

Engineering of mono-dispersed mesoporous TiO2 over 1-D nanorods for water purification under visible light irradiation

Herein we synthesized a novel structure of mesoporous TiO₂ decorated on 1D ZnO nanorods for environmental remediation. The effect of mesoporous TiO₂ over 1D nanorods were investigated. The phase transitions of nanocomposite were confirmed by powder diffraction analysis. The morphological investigation of synthesized TiO₂/ZnO catalyst revealed that the TiO₂ are in porous in nature which covered the surface of 1D nanorods. The size of mesoporous TiO₂ nanoparticles was about 10-15 nm. The chemical composition and elemental mapping results clearly evident that the presence of ZnO and TiO₂ is distributed uniformly on ZnO nanorods. TiO₂/ZnO nanocomposite shows enhanced activity which degrades in 14 min under visible light irradiation. TiO₂/ZnO catalyst with 5 wt % exhibited the high photocatalytic activity (0.1882 min^-1). It is proposed that a synergistic interaction between ZnO and TiO₂ leads to a charge separation which leads to the enhanced activity.

Zinc oxide/vanadium pentoxide heterostructures with enhanced day-night antibacterial activities

Low photocatalytic efficiency of visible light and fast recombination of photo-generated carriers are two challenges facing the applications of photocatalyst sterilant zinc oxide (ZnO). Meanwhile, both light and dark photocatalytic activities are important. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to construct a day-night photocatalytic antibacterial material, which is beneficial to the effective use of energy and to tackle the limitation of using photocatalytic bacteriostat. ZnO nanoflowers decorated vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) nanowires heterojunction (ZVH) was firstly fabricated using a facile water-bathing method. The designed ZVH structure efficiently produced abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) in both light and darkness. It yielded 99.8% and 99.0% of antibacterial rate against S. aureus due to oxidative stress induced by ROS in light and darkness, respectively. The generation of ROS played a major role in the antibacterial activities against S. aureus under both light and dark conditions. The prepared ZVH with improved antibacterial properties provides an alternative for day-night antibacterial agents.

Graphene based nanoassembly for simultaneous detection and degradation of harmful organic contaminants from aqueous solution

Graphene based nanoassemblies that can simultaneously detect and degrade harmful organic contaminants from water are important for conquering the risk of hazardous chemicals.

Engineering disorder into exotic electronic 2D TiO2nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic performance

We successfully prepared exotic electronic 2D TiO₂nanosheets and then engineered disorder into them to obtain black TiO₂nanosheets.

Simultaneous sonosynthesis and sonofabrication of N-doped ZnO/TiO2 core-shell nanocomposite on wool fabric: Introducing various properties specially nano photo bleaching

In this study, N-doped ZnO/TiO2 core-shell nanocomposite was successfully sonosynthesized and sonofabricated on wool fabric through a facile one-step method under ambient pressure and low temperature (75-80°C) as a novel photo-catalyst nanocomposite on textile material. The differences between crystalline phase transformation of conventional and ultrasound synthesized N-ZnO/TiO2 has been compared. The influence of different zinc acetate and titanium isopropoxide precursors in the formation of nanocomposite was studied and optimized through response surface methodology. The photocatalytic activity of the sonofabricated catalyst on the wool fabric surface was evaluated through decomposition of Methylene Blue as a model compound under sunlight irradiation. Also, N-doped ZnO/TiO2 nanocomposite sonosynthesized on wool fabric led to photo bleaching of wool fabric due to decomposition of the naturally occurred pigments under daylight irradiation. Further, yellowness index, antibacterial and antifungal activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans, cell viability, char residual, alkali solubility, mechanical properties and water drop absorption time on the treated wool fabrics were evaluated. Also, the acid solubility of the synthesized nanopowder obtained from sonobath after treatment was characterized in acetic acid indicating higher acid resistance on N-doped ZnO/TiO2 nanocomposite.

Nanostructuring of a GNS-V2O5–TiO2 core–shell photocatalyst for water remediation applications under sun-light irradiation

The GNS-V₂O₅–TiO₂ composite, as a new class of nanoarchitecture, has been successfully fabricated by a facile hydrothermal process followed by a sol–gel technique.