Xin X. Yu; Fang Z. Dong; Bao Dong; Liang Liu; Yan Wu
Abstract
Natural hematite ore is used as a novel material for visible photocatalyst. The hematite was composited with needle-shaped ZnO via a hydrothermal approach. This hematite-based system exhibits excellent photodegradation for rhodamine (RhB) within 30 min when the hematite is hybridized with wurtzite -structured ...
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Natural hematite ore is used as a novel material for visible photocatalyst. The hematite was composited with needle-shaped ZnO via a hydrothermal approach. This hematite-based system exhibits excellent photodegradation for rhodamine (RhB) within 30 min when the hematite is hybridized with wurtzite -structured ZnO under visible light irradiation. The formation of a hybrid hetero-junction was shown by transmission electron microscope. The photocatalytic activity of the hetero-junction was evaluated by the photodegradation of RhB dye. The high photocatalytic activity observed under visible light is discussed on basis of the coupling of the hybrid hetero-junction band structure.
Chen Xia; Muhammad Afzal; Baoyuan Wang; Aslan Soltaninazarlou; Wei Zhang; Yixiao Cai; Bin Zhu
Abstract
Very recently, natural hematite has been developed as an electrolyte candidate for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), because of its considerable ionic conductivity. In this work, to exploit more practical applications of natural hematite, we report a novel mixed-conductive composite made of natural hematite ...
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Very recently, natural hematite has been developed as an electrolyte candidate for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), because of its considerable ionic conductivity. In this work, to exploit more practical applications of natural hematite, we report a novel mixed-conductive composite made of natural hematite (α-Fe2O3) and semiconductor Ni0.8Co0.15Al0.05LiO2-δ (NCAL) to act as membrane layer in a new SOFC technology, electrolyte-layer free fuel cell (EFFC). The Hematite-NCAL composite was synthesized directly from natural hematite and commercial NCAL by solid-state blending and high-temperature calcination. The EFFC were constructed into a sandwich architecture with Hematite-NCAL as the membrane and NCAL pasted-Ni foams as the electrodes. Electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and direct current (DC) polarization measurements were carried out to investigate the electrical conductivity of the composite. A high ionic conductivity of 0.16 S cm -1 is achieved by the composite at 600 o C with mass ratios of 7:3 (7Hematite: 3NCAL). When operated at low temperatures, the as-designed fuel cell demonstrated superior power densities of 554 mW cm -2 at 600 o C and 342 mW cm -2 at 500 o C. Considering the competitive cost, abundant resource and eco-friendliness of natural hematite, our findings indicate the Hematite-NCAL can be a highly promising candidate for advanced low-temperature SOFC applications.
