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This paper describes the synthesis of ZnO/MWCNT nanocomposite, and their potential application in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for hydrogen generation and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye. For the synthesis of nanocomposite, ZnO nanoparticles were grown on the MWCNT surface by a simple chemical route. Microscopic studies showed that ZnO nanoparticles were well dispersed on the MWCNT surface and Raman study confirmed the intimate integration between ZnO and MWCNT. The nanocomposite exhibit higher photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye as compared to bare ZnO. The ZnO/MWCNT photoanode shows ∼5 times increase in photocurrent density in comparison to pure ZnO, at an applied potential of +1 V vs. Ag/AgCl. The enhanced photocurrent density of ZnO/MWCNT photoanode is attributed to the decrease in band-bending and effective interfacial electron transfer due to the conducting CNT scaffold, which facilitates the charge collection and charge transport in the ZnO/MWCNT nanocomposite. The Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements confirmed the faster charge transfer at the interface in the case of nanocomposite. These results suggest substantial potential of ZnO/MWCNT nanocomposite in dye degradation and PEC water splitting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible PVDF/NaNbO 3 /RGO thin films have been synthesized and its application in nanogenerator has been explored. In order to understand the effect of the addition of nanofillers NaNbO 3 and RGO in PVDF, we have also synthesized and studied PVDF/RGO and PVDF/NaNbO 3 nanocomposite films. Even though the β-phase contents are nearly same in the three nanocomposite films, it has been found that the output voltage generated from PVDF/NaNbO 3 /RGO nanocomposite film based nanogenerator is maximum (∼2.16 V) with a short circuit current of 0.383 μA. It has been concluded that NaNbO 3 nanorods help in the alignment of the electric dipoles in PVDF and also due to the inherent piezoelectric property, it contributes in the overall piezoelectric property of the film. On the other hand presence of RGO helps to move the charges generated inside the film and further allow the dipoles of PVDF to align which leads to enhanced piezoresponse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure and Indium (In) doped SnO2 nanocrystalline thin films have been fabricated using sol-gel technique. The effect of In-doping on structural, optical and magnetic properties has been studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study reveals that the grains of pure and doped SnO2 possesses spherical symmetry. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study reveals that pure and In-doped SnO2 thin films possess rutile structure having tetragonal phase. UV-visible study suggests that with In-doping in SnO2, the value of the band gap first increases (upto 5% In-concentration) but further increase in concentration of In to 25% leads to decrease in band gap. It has been found from the room temperature magnetic study that pure and In-doped SnO2 thin films show ferromagnetic behaviour, however with 5% In-doping saturation magnetization value increased. The observed ferromagnetic behaviour may be due to the defects and oxygen vacancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]