P.S. Shinde

Zinc oxide mediated heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation of organic species under solar radiation.

The photocatalytic decomposition of eco-persistent toluene, salicylic acid and 4-chlorophenol with sun light in an oxygenated aqueous suspension has been studied under nanocrystalline hexagonal ZnO photocatalyst. The effect of substrate temperature onto the structural, morphological and photoactive properties has been investigated. The degradation of toluene, salicylic acid and 4-chlorophenol were achieved using a photoelectrochemical reactor module equipped with synthesized ZnO electrodes. Kinetic parameters have been investigated in terms of a first order rate equation. The rate constant (-k) for this heterogeneous photocatalysis was evaluated as a function of the initial concentration of original species. Substantial reduction in concentrations of toluene, salicylic acid and 4-chlorophenol was achieved as analyzed from COD and TOC studies. The mechanism for the degradation of toluene, salicylic acid and 4-chlorophenol could be explained on the basis of Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism.

Optoelectronic properties of sprayed transparent and conducting indium doped zinc oxide thin films

Indium doped zinc oxide (IZO) thin films are grown onto Corning glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis technique. The effect of doping concentration on the structural, electrical and optical properties of IZO thin films is studied. X-ray diffraction studies show a change in preferential orientation from the (0 0 2) to the (1 0 1) crystal planes with increase in indium doping concentration. Scanning electron microscopy studies show polycrystalline morphology of the films. Based on the Hall-effect measurements and analysis, impurity scattering is found to be the dominant mechanism determining the diminished mobility in ZnO thin films having higher indium concentration. The addition of indium also induces a drastic decrease in the electrical resistivity of films; the lowest resistivity (4.03 × 10−5 Ω cm) being observed for the film deposited with 3 at% indium doping. The effect of annealing on the film properties has been reported. Films deposited with 3 at% In concentration have relatively low resistivity with 90% transmittance at 550 nm and the highest value of figure of merit 7.9 × 10−2 Ω−1.

Synthesis of electrochromic vanadium oxide by pulsed spray pyrolysis technique and its properties

A new improved pulsed spray pyrolysis technique (PSPT) was employed to deposit a vanadium oxide (V2O5) thin film from a methanolic vanadium chloride precursor onto glass and conducting F : SnO2 coated glass substrates. The structural, morphological, electrical, optical and spectroscopic properties of the film deposited at 573 K were studied. Infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction confirmed the presence of the V2O5 phase. The V2O5 film (thickness ~118 nm) is polycrystalline with a tetragonal crystal structure. Scanning electron microscopy reveals compact granular morphology consisting of ~80–100 nm size grains. The film is transparent in the visible region (average %T ~70%) with an optical band gap energy of 2.47 eV involving both direct and indirect optical transitions. The room temperature electrical resistivity (conductivity) of the film is 1.6 × 108 Ω cm (6.25 × 10−9 S cm−1) with an activation energy of 0.67 eV in the temperature range 300–550 K. It exhibited cathodic electrochromism in the lithium containing electrolyte (0.5 M LiClO4 + propylene carbonate).

Efficient dye-sensitized solar cells based on hierarchical rutile TiO2 microspheres

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are fabricated based on rutile TiO2 microspheres that are synthesized by a hydrothermal route. We found that, with increasing deposition time, semi microspheres get converted into microspheres. Our results show that the TiO2-based cells exhibit a noticeable improvement in the overall efficiency: maximum 3.81% versus 0.67% for the reference cell made of a rutile TiO2 semispherical nanocrystalline film. This extraordinary result is attributed to the effective light trapping and dye loading resulting in the highest efficiency 3.81%.