Publication detail

Mineralization of flexible mesoporous TiO2 photoanodes using two low-temperature dielectric barrier discharges in ambient air

SHEKARGOFTAR, M. DZIK, P. ĎURAŠOVÁ, Z. STUPAVSKÁ, M. PAVLIŇÁK, D. HOMOLA, T.

Original Title

Mineralization of flexible mesoporous TiO2 photoanodes using two low-temperature dielectric barrier discharges in ambient air

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

Two types of dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs), volume DBD (called Industrial Corona) and coplanar DBD, were used for low temperature (70 degrees C) atmospheric pressure plasma mineralization of mesoporous methyl-silica/titanium dioxide nanocomposite photoanodes. The photoanodes with a thickness of approx. 300 nm were inkjet-printed on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foils. Plasma treatments of both DBDs led to changes in the chemical stoichiometry and morphology of the mesoporous photoanodes, resulting in a significant increase of the work function from approx. 4.0 to 4.3 eV and 4.8 eV, after plasma mineralization with volume DBD and coplanar DBD, respectively. We also studied the effect of plasma mineralization on the photoelectrochemical properties of the flexible mesoporous TiO2 photoanodes. Plasma mineralization with volume DBD and coplanar DBD showed different effects on the generated photocurrent in the photoanodes. Although the plasma mineralization with volume DBD showed only a minor effect on the photocurrent, plasma mineralization with coplanar DBD led to significantly higher photocurrents. We found that the enhancement of the photoelectrochemical properties was related to the homogeneity of the plasma-treated surfaces-arising from different spatial properties of the plasma between volume and coplanar DBDs. Furthermore, the results showed that plasma mineralization using coplanar DBD can effectively change the energy levels of the surface. This resulted in the enhancement of the work function and the photoelectrochemical properties of the mesoporous TiO2 photoanodes. This contribution shows that coplanar arrangement of electrodes in DBDs generates plasma of higher efficacy compared with standard volume DBD that is currently often used in industrial processes.

Keywords

dielectric barrier discharge (DBD); homogeneity of the treated surface; low-temperature plasma; mesoporous photoanodes; plasma mineralization

Authors

SHEKARGOFTAR, M.; DZIK, P.; ĎURAŠOVÁ, Z.; STUPAVSKÁ, M.; PAVLIŇÁK, D.; HOMOLA, T.

Released

2. 1. 2019

Publisher

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Location

69451 WEINHEIM, GERMANY

ISBN

1521-3986

Periodical

Contributions to Plasma Physics

Year of study

59

Number

1

State

Federal Republic of Germany

Pages from

102

Pages to

110

Pages count

9

URL

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ctpp.201700213

BibTex

@article{BUT159520,
  author="Masoud {Shekargoftar} and Petr {Dzik} and Zuzana {Ďurašová} and Monika {Stupavská} and David {Pavliňák} and Tomáš {Homola}",
  title="Mineralization of flexible mesoporous TiO2 photoanodes using two low-temperature dielectric barrier discharges in ambient air",
  journal="Contributions to Plasma Physics",
  year="2019",
  volume="59",
  number="1",
  pages="102--110",
  doi="10.1002/ctpp.201700213",
  issn="1521-3986",
  url="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ctpp.201700213"
}