Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2016)
    Nanomaterials Tuesday Sessions
       Session NM-TuP

Paper NM-TuP10
Nanostructure Surface Design for Increased Photovoltaic Responses in Ethanol Photochemical Fuel Cells

Tuesday, December 13, 2016, 4:00 pm, Room Mauka

Session: Nanomaterials Poster Session
Presenter: Yong Gan, California State Polytechic University Pomona, USA
Authors: K. Hirakawa, California State Polytechic University Pomona, USA
D. Rodriguez, California State Polytechic University Pomona, USA
K. Anderson, California State Polytechic University Pomona, USA
Y. Gan, California State Polytechic University Pomona, USA
Correspondent: Click to Email
Electro-spun Titanium nanofibers can be applied to the surface of photoanode to create a multi-catalyst anode. The electrospinning process is considered in this study and found that it is as one of the simplest ways to create nanofibers with varying diameters ranging from 50 to 500 nm. When combined with a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) composite, titanium oxide creates a nanofiber with high surface area while containing the intrinsic semiconductor properties of . The effects of using silicon nanowires (SiNW) on the surface of doped silicon as a substrate was also studied in this work. SiNWs create a porous surface feature due to the electrodeposited silver on silicon. Silver has a plasmonic effect which allows free electrons to oscillate on the surface of the metal when exposed to light. This plasmonic effect allows Silver to be used as a photocatalyst. Silicon can also be easily etched which creates another photocatalyst . The porous SiNWs enhances the phonon scattering about the interfaces of the nanowires due to its high anti reflectivity causing higher absorption. The functionality of a PEC cell is driven by many factors. nanotubes are the primary interest in this research. The purpose of this work is to determine the effects of type of the surface modified nanostructured photocatalyst anode, the ethanol concentration levels, on the response time of the photoelectrochemical (PEC) reaction when exposed to UV light source. Over a short period of UV irradiation exposure, the response time influences how much the potential difference changes between the anode and cathode. Creating multi-catalyst anodes using doping techniques, electrospinning applications, and electrodeposition methods change the photocatalytic properties. Varying the concentration of the fuel by lowering the energy density present in the electrolyte also effects the response time of the photoanode. By inspecting the various response times, the efficient photoanode in this study is identified.