• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.584-587
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• 2011

In this work, the $TiO_2$ and $SnO_2$ thin films as blocking layers were coated directly onto the metal-mesh electrode surface to prevent unnecessary inflow of back-transfer electrons from the electrolyte ($I^-/I_3^-$) to the metal-mesh electrode. The DSCs were fabricated with working electrode of SUS mesh coated with blocking $TiO_2$ and $SnO_2$ layers, dye-attached mesoporous $TiO_2$ film, gel electrolyte and counter electrode of Pt-deposited F:$SnO_2$. From the experimental result, it was ascertained that the efficiency of metal electrode coated with $TiO_2$ by Dip-coating was superior to that of metal electrode coated with $SnO_2$ by Dip-coating and screen printing with the results of experiments. The photo-current conversion efficiency of the cell obtained from optimum fabrication condition was 3% ($V_{oc}$=0.61V, $J_{sc}$=11.64 mA/$cm^2$, ff=0.64) under AM1.5, 100 mW/$cm^2$ illumination.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.749-752
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• 2009

Anodized tubular titania ($TiO_2$) electrodes (ATTEs) are prepared and used as both the photoanode and the cathode substrate in a photoelectrochemical system designed to split water into hydrogen with the assistance of an enzyme and an external bias (solar cell). In particular, the ATTE used as the cathode substrate for the immobilization of the enzyme is prepared by two methods; adsorption and crosslinking. Results show that the optimized amount of enzyme is 10.98 units for the slurried enzyme, 3.66 units for the adsorbed one and 7.32 units for the crosslinked one, and the corresponding hydrogen evolution rates are 33.04, 148.58, and 234.88 umol/hr, respectively. The immobilized enzyme, specifically the chemically crosslinked one, seems to be much superior to the slurried enzyme, due to the enhanced charge-transfer process that is caused by the lower electrical resistance between the enzyme and the ATTE. This results in a greater number of accepted electrons and a larger amount of enzymes able to deal with the electrons.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.2689-2693
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• 2012

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and $C_{60}$-encapsulated SWNTs ($C_{60}@SWNTs$) are introduced to Ru-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells (PECs), and photocurrents are compared between two cells, i.e., an $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/SWNTs/ITO cell and an $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/$C_{60}@SWNTs$/ITO cell. [L = 2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid, DAPV = di-(3-aminopropyl)-viologen, and ITO = indium-tin oxide] The photocurrents are increased by 70.6% in the presence of $C_{60}@SWNTs$. To explain the photocurrent increase, the reverse-field emission method is used, i.e., $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/SWNTs/ITO cell (or $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/$C_{60}@SWNTs$/ITO cell) as an anode and a counter electrode Pt as a cathode in the external electric field. The improved field emission properties, i.e., ${\beta}$ (field enhancement factor) and emission currents in the reverse-field emission with $C_{60}@SWNTs$ indicate the enhancement of the PEC electric field, which implies the improvement of the electron transfer rate along with the reduced charge recombination in the cell.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1485-1486
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• 2011

A layer of $TiO_2$ thin film less than ~500nm in thickness, as a blocking layer, was coated by sol-gel method directly onto the anode electrode to be isolated from the electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). This is to prevent the electrons from back-transferring from the electrode to the electrolyte (I-/I3-). The effects of heat treatment conditions of the gel and as-coated film on the thickness and consolidation to substrate were studied. The flexible DSCs were fabricated with working electrode of Ti thin foil coated with blocking $TiO_2$ layer, dye-attached mesoporous $TiO_2$ film, gel electrolyte and counter electrode of Pt-deposited indium doped tin oxide/polyethylene naphthalate (ITO/PEN). The photo-current conversion efficiency of the cell was 5.3% ($V_{oc}=0.678V$, $J_{sc}=12.181mA/cm^2$, ff=0.634) under AM1.5, 100 mW/$cm^2$ illumination.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2007

Methylene blue(MB) was photocatalytically degraded with one-body photoanode and solar simulator to investigate the possible application to both environmental purification and photoelectrochemical cell for hydrogen production. Photoactive titanium dioxide was formed on both sides of Ti plate following steps such as rinsing-annealing-calcination or anodizing(20 V, 30 V)-annealing($350^{\circ}C$, $450^{\circ}C)$ after etching. The prepared titania plate($2cm{\times}2\;cm$, ca 1.6 mg $TiO_2$ on the basis of $1\;{\mu}m$ thickness) was used to degrade MB(10 ppm in 200 mL solution). The reaction tended to follow the Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics with zero order. Comparative experiments with Degussa P25 showed the same zero order kinetics when 2 mg of P25 had been used, while the first order kinetics when 200 mg used. This concludes the feasibility of the prepared titania plate as a material for the purification of low-level harmful organics and an electrode or a membrane for photoelectrochemical system for hydrogen production.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.151-156
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• 2007

Solar cell and nanofiltration membrane were utilized in a system of enzymatic hydrogen production through light-sensitized photoanode, which resembles photoelectrochemical(PEC) configuration. Solar cell uses no additional light energy to increase energy for electrons to reduce protons and for holes to oxidize water to oxygen, and nanofiltration membrane replaces a salt bridge successfully with increased ion transport capability. With this system configuration, optimized amount of enzyme(10.98 unit), and an anodized tubular $TiO_2$ electrode($5^{\circ}C$/1 hr in 0.5 wt% HF-$650^{\circ}C$/5 hr) hydrogen evolved at a rate of ca. $43\;{\mu}mol/(cm^2{\times}hr)$ in a cathodic compartment and oxygen generated at a rate of ca. $20\;{\mu}mol/(cm^2{\times}hr)$ in an anodic compartment. The stoichiometric evolution of gases indicated that water was splitted in the system.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.244-260
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• 2018

Issues in the electrical characterization of semiconducting photoanodes in a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell, such as the cell geometry dependence, scan rate dependence in DC measurements, and the frequency dependence in AC measurements, are addressed, using the example of a $TiO_2$ photoanode. Contrary to conventional constant phase element (CPE) modeling, the capacitive behavior associated with Mott-Schottky (MS) response was successfully modeled by a Havriliak-Negami (HN) capacitance function-which allowed the determination of frequency-independent Schottky capacitance parameters to be explained by a trapping mechanism. Additional polarization can be successfully described by the parallel connection of a Bisquert transmission line (TL) model for the diffusion-recombination process in the nanostructured $TiO_2$ electrode. Instead of shunt CPEs generally employed for the non-ideal TL feature, TL models with ideal shunt capacitors can describe the experimental data in the presence of an infinite-length Warburg element as internal interfacial impedance - a characteristic suggested to be a generic feature of many electrochemical cells. Fully parametrized impedance spectra finally allow in-depth physicochemical interpretations.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2021

A solar water battery is a system that generates power using solar energy. It is a combination of photoelectrochemical cells and an energy storage system. It can simultaneously convert and store solar energy without additional external voltage. Solar water batteries consist of photoelectrodes, storage electrodes and counter electrodes, and their properties and combination are important for the performance and the efficiency of the system. In this study, we tried to find the effect that changing the components of solar water batteries has on its system. The effects of the counter electrode during discharge, the kinds of photoelectrode and storage electrode materials, and electrolytes on the solar energy conversion and storage capacitance were studied. The optimized composition (TiO2 : NaFe-PB : Pt foil) exhibited 72.393 mAh g-1 of discharge capacity after 15 h of photocharging. It indicates that the efficiency of solar energy conversion and storage is largely affected by the configuration of the system. Also, the addition of organic pollutants to the chamber of the photoelectrode improved the battery's photo-current and discharge capacity by efficient photoelectron-hole pair separation with simultaneous degradation of organic pollutants. Solar water batteries are a new eco-friendly solar energy conversion and storage system that does not require additional external voltages. It is also expected to be used for water treatment that utilizes solar energy.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.7.2-7.2
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• 2011

Photoelectrochemical solar cells such as dye-sensitized cells (DSSCs), which exhibit high performance and are cost-effective, provide an alternative to conventional p-n junction photovoltaic devices. However, the efficiency of such cells plateaus at 11~12%, in contrast to their theoretical value of 33%. The majority of research has focused on improving energy conversion efficiency of DSSC by controlling nanostructure and exploiting new materials in photoelectrode consisting of semiconducting oxide nanoparticles and a transparent conducting oxide electrode (TCO). In this presentation, we introduce monodisperesed TiO2 nanoparticles prepared by forced hydrolysis method and their superiority as photoelectrode materials was characterized with aids of optical and electrochemical analysis. Inverse opal-based scattering layers containing highly crystalline anatase nanoparticles are also introduced and their feasibility for use as bi-functional light scattering layer is discussed in terms of optical reflectance and charge generation properties as a function of optical wavelength.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.226-229
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• 2009

The present works were performed that titanium foil was anodized in various dilution ratios of seawater and distilled water with 10V external voltage applied, then annealed at $450^{\circ}C$ to obtain $TiO_2$ on the Ti substrate. The prepared samples were characterized by instruments (XRD, SEM, and photocurrent) and used to investigate rate of hydrogen production in photoelectrochemical cell as well as Cr(VI) reduction. As the results of experiments, the anodized $TiO_2$ in seawater electrolytes, which are ranged from 15 to 50 times dilution of seawater, was showed a relatively higher hydrogen production (ca. 97~110 umol/hr-$cm^2$) and Cr(VI) reduction (ca. 95% reduction).