3D TiO2 self-acting system based on dye-sensitized solar cell and g-C3N4/TiO2-MIP to enhanced photodegradation performance

To allow high photocatalytic activity under solar light irradiation, TiO2 nanoflowers (NF-TiO2) have been synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal method. The most noticeable aspect of the newly synthesized NF-TiO2 is significant reduction in the bandgap energy which increased the ability to absorb light in the visible region. Using NF-TiO2 on the FTO as a photoanode of the DSSC (at best composition, NF-3.0 TiO2), achieves a total photoelectric conversion efficiency of 4.9%. Improvement in the performance of DSSC can be attributed to the effective absorption of sensitizer molecules in the presence of NF-TiO2, high light harvesting ability, reduction of grain boundaries and the bulk defects in TiO2, followed by the reduction of charge transfer resistance. By using NF-3.0 TiO2 on OR, 97.0% of methyl violet (MV) pollutant decomposes in the presence of sunlight in 280 min. To achieve an efficient system for the degradation of pollutant, bifunctionalized NF-TiO2 film is also used. In the new strategy, one part of the film is used as dye-sensitized zone (which acts as a DSSC(, and the other as a degradation zone. The results show a significant degradation of about 99.0% at 160 min. Ultimately, to improve the degradation zone molecularly imprinted polymers coated with Co-doped g-C3N4/TiO2 nanocomposite were used. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.