Effect of different type of organic compounds (humic acid, oxalate, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, nitrilotriacetic acid, phenol) on the photocatalytic removal of cyanide with TiO2 or ZnO was studied in this work with variation of the solution pH, contact time, initial cyanide concentration and type of organic compounds. Photocatalytic oxidation efficiency of cyanide with TiO2 was greatly aff...

ZnO layers with a wide range of surface roughness and morphologies can be deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LP-CVD). In this paper, we investigate the effect of a low-resistivity TiO2-ZnO bi-layer incorporated as an anti-reflection coating between the rough ZnO front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and the silicon layer, for thin film p-i-n microcrystalline silicon solar c...

In this work firstly ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized via a simple precipitation method. At the second step titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide shell were synthesized on the core. For preparation ZnO-TiO2-SiO2 the sol product was calcinated at 500 ºC for 2h. Properties of the product were examined by X-raydiffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform inf...

There is evidence from isolated (in vitro) cell experiments that ZnO and TiO2 may induce free radical formation in the presence of light and this free-radical generation may cause cell damage (photo-genotoxicity with ZnO). However, recent work suggests that the photogenotoxicity seen in these studies (with ZnO) may be due to an UV-induced experimental artifact in an in vitro assay, rather than ...

In this contribution we have studied the dynamics of light harvesting of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) to a surface adsorbed sensitizing dye (SD) N719. By using the picosecond resolved Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) technique we have explored that the excited ZnO NPs resonantly transfer visible optical radiation to the SD N719. The consequence of the energy transfer on the performance of th...

The photocatalytic inactivation of Gram negative Escherichia coli and Gram positive Lactobacillus helveticus by both TiO2 and ZnO with 365-nm ultraviolet (UV) light was studied in a batch reactor. Almost all the initial E. coli cell (10 CFU/ml) were inactivated in 40 min in the presence of 2 g/l ZnO. Photocatalytic inactivation of bacteria was found to follow first order kinetics with the highe...

Photoelectrodes made of submicrometer-sized aggregates of ZnO nanocrystallites coated with TiO2 layer by atomic layer deposition with different annealing temperatures were investigated for dye-sensitized solar cells. Although the annealing at 350 C is commonly used for the ZnO aggregates in order to preserve the desired large surface area and mesoporous structure, the presence of ALD-TiO2 layer...

Nanoparticles (Nps) can induce toxicity in the lung by accidental or intentional exposure. The main objective of the study reported here was to characterize the effect that four metal oxide Nps (CeO2, TiO2, Al2O3 and ZnO) had at the cellular level on a human lung epithelial cell line. This goal was achieved by studying the capacity of the Nps to activate the main mitogen-activated protein kinas...

Although CdS and PbS quantum dot-sensitized TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTAs/QDs) show photocatalytic activity in the visible-light region, the low internal quantum efficiency and the slow interfacial hole transfer rate limit their applications. This work modified the surface of the TNTAs/QDs photoelectrodes with metal-oxide overlayers by atomic layer deposition (ALD), such as coating Al2O3, TiO2, a...