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Carbon steel is one of the most widely used alloys in industrial applications. However, the use of this metal may be limited because of corrosion tendency. Thus, it is necessary to develop methods that inhibit its degradation. One way to inhibit corrosion is to use organic inhibitors. Some organic compounds with heteroatoms inhibit corrosion by forming a protective film. In this study, the corrosion inhibition of carbon steel 1020 in 0.1 mol L-1 hydrochloric acid medium was evaluated. The natural inhibitor used was an aqueous extract of the bark of Persea pyrifolia (PP) plant at concentrations of 2.5, 5 and 10% V / V. The electrochemical response was determined by open circuit potential measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and anodic potentiodynamic polarization. Therefore, mass loss was measured, and inhibitory efficiency was evaluated. The best results were observed for the concentration of 2.5% V / V of Persea pyrifolia extract, presenting and inhibition efficiency of 82.5% on the 1020 carbon steel. The electrochemical results indicates that PP extract can be used as green corrosion inhibitor in acidic medium. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v13i2.1469

In this study, it was investigated the photovoltaic parameters of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) and the thin coating morphology of TiO2 by Doctor Blading and Spin Coating methods, sintered at 450 ºC and 450 ºC with a heating rate of 0.4 ºC s-1, using a natural dye extract from Hibiscus. These properties were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photochronoamperometry and curves j-V. It was demonstrated that all solar cells produced are photosensitive with an excellent charge injection. The cell with a better energy conversion (jsc = 0.53 mA cm-2; Voc= 0.471 V and FF= 0.518), uniform and flawless morphology was obtained to cell coated by Doctor Blading method, with a heat treatment of 450 ºC/0.4 ºC s-1. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v10i3.1101

Mix of oxides is an alternative method to enhance the photoelectrochemical parameters of solar devices. Nb inserted in TiO2 was prepared successfully by Pechini methodology and the oxide was used as electron transport material in P3HT organic solar device. TiO2 anatase/rutile was confirmed by XRD measurement and band gap determination combined with cyclic voltammetry measurement indicated the Nb sub states creation above TiO2 conduction band. IMVS and OCP decay diagram showed an increasing in electron lifetime of 0.4758 s–0.6645 s to the cell containing Niobium. The energy conversion efficiency to the cell based in 5% of Nb presented an improving about 25% when compared to bared TiO2, proving that this methodology is a promisor route to produce enhanced electron transport materials.

Hybrid solar cells show an increasing number in researches due to its low cost and easy of production. They are composed by and organic material and a semiconductor oxide. The aim of this paper was to synthesis and characterize zinc oxide by coprecipitation and apply it in a hybrid solar cell that uses a P3HT/P3OT copolymer as charge carrier. The cell was assembled in "sandwich" form using FTO/ZnO/P3HT-P3OT as work electrode, (Pt/FTO) as conter electrode and I/I-3 redox couple as electrolyte. Through the X-ray diffractogram the formation of a single ZnO wutzite hexagonal phase was observed. The morphology obtained for the oxide was spherical. The results of photochronoamperometry showed current density values of jP3HT/P3OT =0.55 mA.cm-2 for the cell in the presence of the copolymer and the curve jxV showed an efficiency of 0.16% for the studied cell, demonstrating that the polymer was a satisfactory sensitizer.

Natural dyes can be used in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to generate low-cost devices, although with low light harvesting because of energy losses from the recombination process. This study investigates recombination reactions in DSSCs with natural dyes extracted from eggplants, plums, and hibiscus flowers. Titanium dioxide films were coated on a fluorine-doped tin oxide glass conductor substrate by the doctor blading method and impregnated in a dye solution for 24 h. Electrodeposited platinum was used as the cathode, and I3–/I– as the redox couple. The techniques employed were: intensity modulated photovoltage spectroscopy, intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, charge extraction, and cyclic voltammetry. The results show that cells containing plum dye exhibited the best photovoltaic parameters, with high values of gap, charge extraction, and potential, being less resistive to charge transfer with an electron lifetime of 0.51 s, collection time of 8.54 ms, and charge efficiency collection of 0.99.

Dye-sensitized solar cells using natural dyes have lower cost when compared to ruthenium-based dyes. This paper aims to evaluate, electrochemically, solar cells composed of TiO2 with dye extracted from the Hibiscus(var. Sabdariffa) and propose an adsorption model capable of predicting the adsorption mechanism of the dye on the semiconductor surface. The characterization techniques used were: Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, UV-VIS Spectroscopy, Measurement of the Open Circuit Potential, Photocronoamperometry, and Current Density Curves vs. Potential. The infrared spectroscopy confirmed there was adsorption of dye on the TiO2 surface. The adsorption isotherm with the better value of linear coefficient (R= 0.9874) was the Langmuir isotherm. The electrochemical techniques showed that the best cell prepared from a solution with a concentration of 5.27 mg L-1 of the natural dye, had an Eca= 516 mV, j = 0.15 mA cm-2 and an energy efficiency (η) of 0.15%.