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Polycrystalline thin films of silver oxide were synthesised by chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. The particle size in the deposited films was found to decrease with increasing bath temperature while the porosity was found to increase with increasing temperature of deposition. The band gap in the film was found to increase with decreasing particle size. The sensitivity in the presence of alcohol was found to increase with working temperature before reaching maximum at 250°C. A maximum sensitivity of ~35% was observed at 250°C in presence of 1000 ppm ethanol for films deposited at highest deposition temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, photo-electrooxidation of fuel using a noble metal-semiconductor junction has been one of the most promising approaches in fuel cell systems. Herein, we report the development of a Pd-supported Bi 2 MoO 6 -Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 -CuO novel ternary heterojunction for ethanol oxidation in alkali in the presence and absence of visible light. Various spectroscopic and microscopic characterization techniques confirm strong coupling between palladium nanoparticles and Bi 2 MoO 6 -Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 -CuO ternary heterojunction supports. The photo-electrocatalytic efficacy of the synthesized catalysts was inspected by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The CV study reveals that the forward peak current density (in mA mg -1 of Pd) of the synthesized quaternary heterojunction was about 1482.5, which is 2.4, 4, and 4.6 times higher than that of Pd/CuO (608.3), Pd/Bi 2 MoO 6 -Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 (368.3), and similarly synthesized Pd catalyst (321.5) under visible light radiation. The best heterojunction catalyst shows 2.21-fold higher peak current density in visible light compared to that in dark. CA study reveals that after operation for 6000 s, the current density of the quaternary electrode is 1.5 and 3.4 times greater than that of Pd/CuO and Pd/C catalysts, respectively. The greater photocurrent response, lower photoluminescence (PL) emission intensity, and smaller semicircle arc in the Nyquist plot of the quaternary catalyst demonstrate the efficient segregation and higher charge transfer conductance of photogenerated charges to facilitate the photo-electrooxidation process of ethanol. The stability test shows that the quaternary catalyst loses only 9.8 and 7.7% of its maximum current density after 500 cycles of CV operation in the dark and light, respectively, indicating that light energy is more beneficial in establishing high stability. The dramatic enhancement of the photo-electrocatalytic activity of the quaternary electrode is owing to the lower band gap, high ECSA, enhanced charge separation of photogenerated carriers (e - -h + ), and all cocatalytic support of Bi 2 MoO 6 , Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 , and CuO in Pd/ Bi 2 MoO 6 -Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 -CuO under visible light radiation. The morphology and structure of the used quaternary catalyst are tested using FESEM and PXRD. Finally, ex situ FTIR spectroscopy and HPLC techniques help understand the ethanol electrooxidation reaction mechanism., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)