Search

A novel hybrid film is designed and prepared by in situ growth of ZnO nanoribbons in the interstices of Zn 2 SnO 4 nanoplates network on the compacted woven metal wires through a simple process. The ZnO nanoribbons present in the ZnO/Zn 2 SnO 4 composite film can enhance light harvesting, accelerate electron transport and induce a negative shift in the flat-band potential. Benefiting from its advantageous structure and composition, the ZnO/Zn 2 SnO 4 film can be applied in many fields. For the flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (FDSSCs) employing optimized ZnO/Zn 2 SnO 4 as a photoanode, the conversion efficiency reaches 2.41% corresponding to ∼36.2% improvement relative to the Zn 2 SnO 4 nanoplates-based FDSSCs. Moreover, ZnO/Zn 2 SnO 4 -based FDSSC shows relatively good mechanical stability and long-term stability, retaining 95.1% and 93.3% of its initial efficiency after ten consecutive bending tests and after 15 days under sunlight, respectively; Additionally, the immobilized ZnO/Zn 2 SnO 4 on the metal wires exhibits 96.8% photocatalytic degradation efficiency against an organic dye under UV light, and the photocatalytic performance can be restored almost completely by a simple chemical treatment. More importantly, the in situ growth technique demonstrated in this work can be adopted to fabricate other composite oxides on flexible substrates with high curvature surfaces for additional practical applications in flexible devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For enhanced solar energy application, double-layered nitrogen-doped Zn 2 SnO 4 film consisting of bottom nanosheets and top nanoparticles is designed and synthesized on flexible woven metal wires. The effects of doping concentration of nitrogen element (N) and the amount of coating nanoparticles on electronic, optical properties and stability are investigated in detail by various testing techniques. The results show that in the double-layered structure, the nanosheets array can provide direct transport pathways for photoinduced electrons, while the nanoparticles can provide high surface area. On the other hand, doped N element is conducive not only to the absorption of visible light due to narrowed band gap, but also to suppression of charge recombination. With the optimized double-layered N-doped Zn 2 SnO 4 as photoanodes of flexible dye-sensitized solar cells, the corresponding photoelectric conversion efficiency is 2.302% compared to 1.332% and 1.826% in case of pure Zn 2 SnO 4 nanosheets and N-doped Zn 2 SnO 4 nanosheets; The double-layered N-doped Zn 2 SnO 4 is also determined to be high-performance immobilized photocatalyst with a better recyclability for the photodegradation of organic pollutant under sunlight irradiation; More importantly, the preparation methods is also applicable to fabricate other composite oxides on wire-shaped substrate for more practical applications in flexible devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Deposit composite with complex 3D hierarchical structure on the mesh by multiple EPD. • Stainless steel mesh-supported SnO 2 /Zn 2 SnO 4 can be used as varied flexible devices. • Provide a way to build material with 3D structure on flexible wire mesh. Three dimensional (3D) hierarchical micro/nanostructures are an interesting class of materials with various tunable physicochemical properties and have good application foreground in environmental protection. However, it is hard for the micrometer-sized material to directly grow on high curvature surface of metal wire mesh for assembling flexible devices. In this paper, the two SnO 2 /Zn 2 SnO 4 composites with different hierarchical morphologies prepared using solvothermal method were deposited onto stainless steel mesh by the multiple electrophoretic deposition, and used as photoanodes of flexible dye-sensitized solar cell (FDSSCs), flexible gas sensors to detect poisonous formaldehyde (HCHO) and immobilized photocatalysts for the degradation of two different types of organic dyes. Due to larger specific surface areas, the higher light harvesting efficiency and mesoporous property, the performances of the flexible devices based SnO 2 /Zn 2 SnO 4 microspheres consisting of nanoparticle-based nanosheets were superior to those based on SnO 2 /Zn 2 SnO 4 microspheres consisting of nanobelts. This work extends the development of SnO 2 /Zn 2 SnO 4 hierarchical micro/nanostructures on the flexible substrate and provides a strategy for constructing other 3D hierarchical material on the flexible wire mesh with the high curvature surface to enhance performance of corresponding flexible devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]