Photocatalytic and photo-electrochemical property of Zinc Oxide and Bismuth Vanadate for pollutant degradation and water splitting applications

Abstract

Splitting of water using renewable energy has great applications in the degradation of organic pollutant via photo catalysis and hydrogen generation via photo-electrochemical cells. For this purpose, metal-oxide materials viz. Zinc oxide (ZnO) and Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) have been chosen as the targeted semiconductors for their potential abilities for water splitting applications. Both these materials, in pure and composite form, have been studied for their photo catalytic and photo-electrochemical property towards contaminants decomposition and hydrogen generation. Heterostructures of ZnO have tremendous applications in the field of splitting of water. Present research work is mainly aimed towards synthesis and investigation of the interface interaction mechanism of charge transfer and separation on photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical activity of ZnO and BiVO4 based nanocomposites/photoanodes.