© 2020 IIETA. This article is published by IIETA and is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
OPEN ACCESS
Corn cobs can be processed chemically to generate new products for electricity employing a simple, low-cost, and environment friendly method. In this article, silicon carbide (SiC) and activated carbon can be synthesized from corn cobs via sol–gel and a chemical activation method, respectively. SiC was synthesized by reacting the synthesized silica and activated carbon with magnesium powder, which served as catalyst at 600 oC. The SiC was doped with varying amount of Al2O3 (0.01, 0.015, 0.02 and 0.1 g), a p-type dopant, via solvothermal synthesis. The undoped SiC was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). Then, the band-gap energy and conductivity of undoped SiC and p-doped SiC were determined. SEM-EDX and FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of Si–C bond in the synthesized SiC from corn cob. It was observed that p-doped SiC absorbs higher energy in the visible region than undoped SiC. FTIR analysis confirmed the incorporation of the aluminum in the SiC. UV–vis spectros-copy confirmed that the synthesized p-doped SiC exhibits higher absorbance compared with undoped SiC. Aluminum doping also increased absorption bands on the visible region making it more efficient for potential application in photovoltaic (solar) cells because of the decreased band-gap energy and increase in conductivity of p-doped SiC. The ratio of 1:1–2 (SiC:Al) showed the lowest band-gap and highest conductivity with a value of 1.57–1.58 eV and 0.080–0.082 mS/cm compared with the amount of other p-dopants. Statistically, it was found that the 1:1–2 ratio of SiC:Al can be an effective p-junction for the application in photovoltaic (solar) cells.
corn cob, p-doped SiC, photovoltaic solar cell, silicon carbide (SiC)
[1] Teves, C., Philippine News Agency, August 1, 2019, from PH corn production up 4.66% in 1st quarter: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1035104, 2018.
[2] Chanadee, T. & Chaivarat, S., Preparation and characterization of low cost silica powder from sweet corncobs. Journal of Material and Environmental Science, 7(7), pp. 2369–2374, 2016.
[3] Shim, J., Velmurugan, P. & Oh, B., Extraction and physical characterization of amorphous silica made from corncob ash at variable pH conditions via sol gel processing. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 30, pp. 249–253, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2015.05.029
[4] Abdel Rahim, M.A., Ismail, M. & Abdel Mageed, A.M., Production of carbon and precipitated white nanosilica from rice husk ash. International Journal of Advanced Research, 3(2), pp. 491–498, 2015.
[5] Dasog, M., Smith, L., Purkait, T. & Veinot, J., Low temperature synthesis of silicon carbide nanomaterials using solid-state method. Chemical Communications, 49, pp. 7004–7006, 2013.
[6] Negi, Y.S. & Kumar, S., Nanoparticles synthesis from corn cob (xylan) and their potential application as colon-speficic drug carrier. Macromolecular Symposia, 320(1), pp. 75–80, 2012.
[7] Ceballos-Mendivil, I.G., Lopez, R.E., Cordova, J.C., Yescas, R.M., Zavala-Rivera, P. & Gonzalez, J.H., Synthesis and characterization of silicon carbide in the application of high temperature solar surface receptors. Energy Procedia, 57, pp. 533–540, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.10.207
[8] Mohanraj, K., Kanan, S., Barathan, S. & Sivakumar, G., Preparation and characterization of nano SiO2 corncob ash by precipitation method. Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials-Rapid Communication, 6(3), pp. 394–397, 2012.
[9] Gonzales, A., Hernandez, A., Chaves, C., Castano, V. & Santos, C., Novel crystalline SiO2 nanoparticles via annelids bioprocessing of agro-industrial wastes. Nanoscales Research Technology, 5(9), pp. 9654–9656, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11671-010-9654-6
[10] Abderrazak, H. & Hmida, E.S.B., Silicon Carbide: Synthesis and Properties. Properties and Applications of Silicon Carbide, Chapter 16, 2011. Doi:10.5772/15736
[11] Sharma, S., Jain, K. K. & Sharma, A., Solar cells: in research and applications – a review. Material Sciences and Applications, 6, pp. 1145–1155, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4236/msa.2015.612113
[12] Zhang, Y., Yang, M., Zhan, G. & Dionysiou, D., HNO3-involved one-step low temperature solvothermal synthesis of N-doped TiO2 nanocrystals for efficient photo-catalytic reduction of Cr(VI) in water. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 142–143, pp. 249–258, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2013.05.023
[13] Vahur, S., Teearu, A., Peets, P., Joosu, L. & Leito, I., ATR-FT-IR spectral collection of conservation materials in the extended region of 4000-80 cm–1. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 408(13), pp. 3373–3379, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-016-9411-5
[14] Nie, S. & Smith, A., Semiconductor nanocrystals: Structure, properties, and band-gap engineering. Accounts of Chemical Research, 43(2), pp. 190–200, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1021/ar9001069
[15] Okoronkwo, E.A., Imoisili, P.E. & Olusunle, S.O.O., Extraction and characterization of Amorphous Silica from Corncob Ash by Sol-Gel Method. Chemistry and Material Research, 3(4), pp. 68–72, 2013.
[16] Gopal, V.R.V. & Kamila, S., Effect of temperature on the morphology of ZnOnanoparticles: a comparative study. Applied Nanoscience, 7, pp. 75–82, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-017-0553-3
[17] Hirayama, N., Iida, T., Sakomoto, M., Nishio, K. & Hamada, N., Substitutional and interstitial impuriry p-type doping of thermoelectric Mg2Si: a theoretical study. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 19, pp. 160–172, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/14686996.2019.1580537