Fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells based on push-pull asymmetrical substituted zinc and copper phthalocyanines and reduced graphene oxide nanosheet:
- Authors: Chindeka, Francis , Mashazi, Philani N , Britton, Jonathan , Oluwole, David O , Mapukata, Sivuyisiwe , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149076 , vital:38802 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotochem.2020.112612
- Description: Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated by using 2(3,5-biscarboxyphenoxy), 9(10), 16(17), 23(24)-tri(tertbutyl) phthalocyaninato Cu (4) and Zn (5) complexes as dyes on the ITO-TiO2 photoanodes containing reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (rGONS) or nitrogen-doped rGONS (NrGONS). The evaluation of the assembled DSSCs revealed that using ITO-TiO2-NrGONS-CuPc photoanode had the highest fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency (ɳ) of 69% and 4.36% respectively. These results show that the asymmetrical phthalocyanine complexes (4) and (5) exhibit significant improvement on the performance of the DSSC compared to our previous work on symmetrical carboxylated phthalocyanines with ɳ = 3.19%.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Growth of centimeter scale carbon wires using in-liquid AC arc discharge:
- Authors: Jankowski, Krzysztof , Ostafin, Agnes , Tomasik, Mikolaj , Nyokong, Tebello , Britton, Jonathan
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149956 , vital:38914 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1007/s42452-020-2881-2
- Description: A novel observation of the formation of carbon wire in a carbon-based liquid solvent, using in liquid high voltage AC arc discharge is described. The authors describe the observed phenomenon, technical equipment needed to achieve the effect and preliminary qualitative results of obtained material. The wire consisted of well packed layers of carbon elements. The arc-discharge method is a simple, low cost method for the production of three dimensional carbon structures. A further research is needed to get a thorough understanding of the phenomenon.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Bioelectrocatalysis and surface analysis of gold coated with nickel oxide/hydroxide and glucose oxidase towards detection of glucose:
- Authors: Njoko, Nqobile , Louzada, Marcel , Britton, Jonathan , Khene, Samson M , Nyokong, Tebello , Mashazi, Philani N
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150071 , vital:38937 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2020.110981
- Description: The fabricating of metal oxide thin films onto conducting surfaces continues to grow and their potential applications as surfaces for biosensor applications is of paramount importance. The correct orientation of glucose oxidase redox enzymes yields very important biointerfaces capable of selectively detecting D-glucose as a measure of blood sugar for healthy and diabetic sick patients. The electrodeposition of redox enzymes, such as glucose oxidase enzymes, onto gold electrode surfaces pre-modified with nickel oxide was investigated in this work.
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- Date Issued: 2020