Converting hazardous organics into clean energy using a solar responsive dual photoelectrode photocatalytic fuel cell.
Direct discharging great quantities of organics into water-body not only causes serious environmental pollution but also wastes energy sources. In this paper, a solar responsive dual photoelectrode photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC(2)) based on TiO2/Ti photoanode and Cu2O/Cu photocathode was designed for hazardous organics treatment with simultaneous electricity generation. Under solar irradiation, the interior bias voltage produced for the Fermi level difference between photoelectrodes drives photoelectrons of TiO2/Ti photoanode to combine with photoholes of Cu2O/Cu photocathode through external circuit thus generating electricity. In the meantime, organics are decomposed by photoholes remained at TiO2/Ti photoanode. By using various hazardous organics including azo dyes as model pollutants, the PFC showed high converting performance of organics into electricity. For example, in 0.05 M phenol solution, a short-circuit current density 0.23 mA cm(-2), open-circuit voltage 0.49 V, maximum power output 0.3610(-4)W cm(-2) was achieved. On the other hand, removal rate of chroma reached 67%, 87% and 63% in 8h for methyl orange, methylene blue, Congo red, respectively.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800, Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China.
Jianyong
J
Li
Jinhua
J
Li
Quanpeng
Q
Chen
Jing
J
Bai
Baoxue
B
Zhou
D002384:Catalysis; D004566:Electrodes; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*; D012993:Solar Energy
D015386:Hazardous Substances; D009930:Organic Chemicals
Azo dye; CB; Cu(2)O Nanowire array; MTNA; PBS; PFC; Photocatalytic degradation; Photocatalytic fuel cell; STNA; TNA; TiO(2) Nanotube array; TiO(2) nanotube arrays; VB; conduction band; medium TiO(2) nanotube arrays; phosphate buffered saline; photocatalytic fuel cell; short TiO(2) nanotube arrays; valence band