Evolution of photovoltaic and photocatalytic activity in anatase-TiO2 under visible light via simplistic deposition of CdS and PbS quantum-dots

Autor: Alam Zeb, Hafiz Muhammad Naeem, Muhammad Asif Tahir, Mansoor Irfan Aziz, Faryal Mughal, Muhammad Abdul Basit
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Materials Chemistry and Physics. 229:508-513
ISSN: 0254-0584
DOI: 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.03.042
Popis: A simple approach to deposit metal chalcogenide-based quantum-dots on TiO2 (anatase) nanoparticles via pseudo-successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (p-SILAR) was opted to design and investigate the corresponding photoactivity under visible light. We used TiO2/PbS and TiO2/CdS nanocomposites for photocatalysis after which we prepared solar paints from them to put side by side the resultant photovoltaic performance. We developed solar paint type quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) from TiO2/PbS and TiO2/CdS nanocomposites to divulge electron-hole generation, electron-hole recombination, and resistance against photo-corrosion. TiO2/PbS exhibited higher electron-hole generation than TiO2/CdS owing to its efficient visible light harvesting capability which resulted in higher photocurrent density (JSC) and thus higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) for respective QDSC; however, it had inferior resistance against photo-corrosion. Additionally, the degradation of an azo-based dye (acid orange-56) reflected an effectual increase in the photocatalytic activity of anatase-TiO2 as a result of deposition of PbS and CdS QDs. TiO2/PbS performed better than TiO2/CdS as a photocatalyst under visible light irradiation.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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