A synergistic heterostructured ZnO/BaTiO3 loaded carbon photoanode in photocatalytic fuel cell for degradation of Reactive Red 120 and electricity generation

Abstract Photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) is considered as a sustainable green technology which could degrade organic pollutant and generate electricity simultaneously. A synergistic double-sided ZnO/BaTiO3 loaded carbon plate heterojunction photoanode was fabricated in different ratios by using simple ultrasonication and mixed-annealed method. The double-sided design of photoanode allowed the lights irradiated at both sides of the photoanode. The ferroelectricity fabricated photoanode was applied in a membraneless PFC with platinum-loaded carbon as the cathode. Results revealed that the photoanode with 1:1 ratio of BaTiO3 and ZnO exhibited a superior photocatalytic activity among all the photoanodes prepared in this study. The heterojunction of this photoanode was able to achieve up to a removal efficiency of 93.67% with a maximum power density of 0.5284 μW cm−2 in 10 mg L−1 of Reactive Red 120 (RR120) without any supporting electrolyte. This photoanode was able to maintain at high performance after recycling 3 times. Overloading of ZnO above 50% on BaTiO3 could lead to deterioration of the performance of PFC due to the charge defects and light trapping ability. The interactions, interesting polarizations of the photocatalysts and proposed mechanism of the n-n type heterojunction in the photoanode of ZnO/BaTiO3 was also discussed.