Abstract

Ca2Fe2O5 (CFO) is a potentially viable material for alternate energy applications. Incorporation of nitrogen in Ca2Fe2O5 (CFO-N) lattice modifies the optical and electronic properties to its advantage. Here, the electronic band structures of CFO and CFO-N were probed using Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The optical bandgap of CFO reduces from 2.21 eV to 2.07 eV on post N incorporation along with a clear shift in the valence band of CFO indicating the occupation of N 2p levels over O 2p in the valence band. Similar effect is also observed in the bandgap of CFO, which is tailored upto 1.43 eV by N+ ion implantation. The theoretical bandgaps of CFO and CFO-N were also determined by using the Density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The photoactivity of these CFO and CFO-N was explored by organic effluent degradation under sunlight. The feasibility of utilizing CFO and CFO-N samples for energy storage applications were also investigated through specific capacitance measurements. The specific capacitance of CFO is found to increase to 224.67 Fg−1 upon N incorporation. CFO-N is thus found to exhibit superior optical, catalytic as well as supercapacitor properties over CFO expanding the scope of brownmillerites in energy and environmental applications.

Details

Title
Nitrogen Incorporated Photoactive Brownmillerite Ca2Fe2O5 for Energy and Environmental Applications
Author
Vavilapalli Durga Sankar 1 ; Banik Soma 2 ; Peri Raja Gopal 3 ; Muthuraaman, B 3 ; Miryala Muralidhar 4 ; Murakami Masato 4 ; Klimkowicz, Alicja 4 ; Asokan, K 5 ; Rao, M S Ramachandra 6 ; Singh Shubra 1 

 Anna University, Crystal Growth Centre, Chennai, India (GRID:grid.252262.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 0613 6919) 
 Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Synchrotron Utilization Section, Indore, India (GRID:grid.250590.b) (ISNI:0000 0004 0636 1456); Training School Complex, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Anushakti Nagar, India (GRID:grid.250590.b) 
 University of Madras, Department of Energy, Chennai, India (GRID:grid.413015.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 0505 215X) 
 Shibaura Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Koto-ku, Japan (GRID:grid.419152.a) (ISNI:0000 0001 0166 4675) 
 Inter University Accelerator Centre, Materials Science Division, New Delhi, India (GRID:grid.440694.b) (ISNI:0000 0004 1796 3049) 
 Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Nano Functional Materials Technology Centre, Department of Physics, Chennai, India (GRID:grid.417969.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 2315 1926) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2356679890
Copyright
This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.