Bi-efficacious incorporation of Indium in TiO2/PbS based nanocomposites for photocatalytic and solar paint applications

Quantum-dot (QD) sensitized TiO2 nanocomposites are currently emerging as efficient photovoltaic and photocatalytic materials and thus extensively investigated to obtain superior light harvesting. TiO2 coupled with PbS QDs (TiO2/PbS) offers excellent absorbance of solar irradiation, ensuing significant electron-hole generation that can be utilized for carrying out photovoltaic activity in solar cells or dye degradation process. However, TiO2/PbS nanocomposite suffers from detrimental charge carrier recombination and photo-corrosion in an electrolyte/aqueous environment which lowers down its performance. In this study, we have revealed the bi-efficacious role of Indium (In) incorporation during the conventional synthesis (i.e. successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction; SILAR) of TiO2/PbS nanocomposite. Resultantly, the modified processes enabled us to achieve In-doped and In2S3 deposited PbS QDs, which respectively produced improved opto-electronic behavior and photostability of TiO2/PbS nanocomposites. On the one hand, In-incorporated TiO2/PbS NC exhibited 100% higher degradation of toxic Congo Red dye than reference TiO2/PbS, while it showed similar to 3 mA/cm(2) higher photocurrent density (JSC) and around 1.49% power conversion efficiency (PCE) when utilized for the development of solar paint-based photoanode in QDs sensitized solar cell (QDSSC). Along with extensive material characterization of reference and In-incorporated TiO2/PbS NCs, electrochemical characterization was carried out to affirm the efficacy of modification of conventional SILAR process and resultant TiO2/PbS NCs.

Automated summary

By incorporating indium during the conventional synthesis process, the opto-electronic behavior and photostability of TiO2/PbS nanocomposites were significantly improved. The In-doped and In2S3 deposited PbS QDs led to enhanced degradation of dyes and increased power conversion efficiency when utilized in QDs sensitized solar cells. Extensive characterization and electrochemical studies confirmed the efficacy of the modified synthesis process.