Construction of 0D Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Anchored on the Surface of 2D MXene Functional Materials for High-efficiency Photocatalytic Removal of Organic Pollutants: Roles of Nanoconfinement Effect and Interface Effect

Among the available semiconductors, TiO2 plays a significant role in charge transport mechanism for the third-generation solar devices.The presence of trap states decreases the overall charge injection efficiency of the device.This can be improved by mixing a small amount of Fe2O3 with the TiO2 nanoparticles.This leads to expedite the injection of electrons from the semiconductor conduction band to the FTO conduction band, thereby reducing the charge recombination.Here, we have deposited three types of films, i.e., single, double and triple layer of TiO2 with mixing of Fe2O3 in it.These films were characterized for solar device fabrication.The sample prepared with 2 wt.% with two layers coating, significantly improves the device performance.Sustaining a high fill factor requires controlling the flaws by surface passivation.The Fe2O3 can be considered as a good candidate for enhanced DSSC's applications.