TY  - JOUR
T1  - Water Purification from Organic Pollutants using a Photo-Oxidation
AU - Karki, Bhishma AU - Jerambhai Keshavani, Mukesh AU - Jyoti Nakarmi, Jeevan 
JO  - Research Journal of Applied Sciences
VL  - 14
IS  - 6
SP  - 192
EP  - 197
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1815-932x
DO  - rjasci.2019.192.197
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=rjasci.2019.192.197
KW  - organic pollutants indicating
KW  -photo-oxidation
KW  -Solar energy
KW  -improve
KW  -water treatment
KW  -silicon
AB  - Water treatment scheme is proposed where two variables are taken. BiVO<sub>4</sub> photoanode combined
with a thin film silicon solar cell. It has a band gap energy of 2.4 eV which has good catalytic properties for the
degradation of phenol and chloroform. Applying an external bias voltage in order to reach the required
potentials for pollutant degradation. To cover the voltage needs, an a-Si:H/nc-Si:H solar cell was coupled with
the BiVO<sub>4</sub>. This solar cell was specifically designed to work under the transmitted spectrum of the BiVO<sub>4</sub> with
thicknesses of 200 and 1000 nm for the top and bottom cell, respectively. This device has successfully been
fabricated and tested for removal of organic contaminants from an aqueous solution. The device with the solar
cell performed better than, the BiVO<sub>4</sub> photoanode alone with a similar external bias voltage applied, suggesting
that the solar cell does not only act as a voltage source but also as a current source. To compare the performance
of this device to the commercially available ZnO photoanode illuminated by UV light, an energy balance for
phenol removal was performed. The energy needed for phenol removal was reduced from 1.83 Wh/mg with
the ZnO/UV device to 0.79 Wh/mg with the BiVO<sub>4</sub> with a solar cell indicating the potential of the proposed
device to improve the water treatment of organic pollutants by using Earth-abundant materials and solar energy.
ER  -