Graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) for solar cell applications
- Title
- Graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) for solar cell applications
- Creator
- Murthy H.
- Description
- There is an eminent global energy crisis and photovoltaics as one of the primary renewable energy sources is playing an important part in offsetting the dependency on fossil fuels. Current solar cells technology is dominated by silicon, and researchers are trying to replace it with organic and nanocrystalline semiconducting materials. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4, GCN) has gained interest as a visible light driven photocatalyst with a unique 2D structure, excellent chemical stability and tunable electronic structure along with attractive optoelectronic properties. Pure GCN suffers from low surface area and rapid recombination of photo-generated electron-hole pairs resulting in low photovoltaic and photocatalytic activity and hence modification by doping with other atoms is required. Photocatalytic applications of GCN based nanomaterials for water splitting, hydrogen production, CO2 reduction and pollutant degradation has been extensively investigated and systematically reviewed. However, their applications as energy storage has been explored recently and there is a lack of comprehensive review that systematically summarizes the application of GCN and GCN-based heterostructures for solar cell applications. Heterojunctions with superior light absorption and appropriate conduction band and valence band alignment is a promising approach for the applications in efficient environmental remediation and solar energy storage. This critical review summarizes the synthesis and advances of GCN nanocomposites modified with semiconductors (TiO2, ZnO), bismuth titanate, strontium titanate and rare earth metals for solar cell applications. GCN-based heterostructures with perovskite and polymer based materials are also presented. The characteristics and transfer mechanism within the various heterojunctions is also reviewed and presented. The review ends with a summary and some perspectives on the challenges and new directions in exploring GCN-based advanced nanomaterials particularly towards photovoltaics and energy storage applications. 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
- Source
- Nanoscale Graphitic Carbon Nitride: Synthesis and Applications, pp. 225-276.
- Date
- 2021-01-01
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Subject
- Energy storage; Graphitic carbon nitride (GCN); Heterostructures; Nanostructures; Organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs); Perovskite solar cells; Photovoltaics; Solar cells
- Coverage
- Murthy H., Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, CHRIST (Deemed to be) University, Kanminike, Bengaluru, India
- Rights
- Restricted Access
- Relation
- ISBN: 978-012823034-3
- Format
- Online
- Language
- English
- Type
- Book chapter
Collection
Citation
Murthy H., “Graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) for solar cell applications,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed February 22, 2025, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/18718.