Executive Summary : | In recent years, the usage of electronic gadgets has proliferated very fast therefore, the quantity of dumped electrical and electronic devices is growing enormously around the globe. These E wastes comprises not only hazardous substance such as Cd, Cr, Pb, brominated flame retardants, or polychlorinated biphenyls, but also significant number of precious metals like Cu Fe Al Au Ag and Pd. Hence, the recovered and recycled precious metals from E waste can be reused in energy conversion devices is an ideal strategy to protect the environment from pollution and the scarcity of metals on the earth. Particularly, Cu metal is considered one of the best materials for reuse because it is 100 % recyclable and holds its physical and electrical properties even after recycling. Therefore, it is a great opportunity to recover it from the e-waste materials and utilize it for making value added products such as energy storage/conversion devices. The solar to chemical fuel conversion using photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a promising approach to replace the fossil fuel-based energy system. The cost of developing photocathodes is very high if we employ conductive substrates including FTO, ITO, Silica, and quartz. To overcome this problem, designing more affordable conductive substrates is crucial. Besides this, a high quantum yield is necessary for the effective transfer of charge carriers to the reactive interface between the photoelectrode and the electrolyte in a PEC water splitting system. Unfortunately, the solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiencies of Tandem water splitting PEC devices studied so far are insufficient to meet the energy demand (5 STH), due to the lack of techniques to generate adequate photovoltage and photocurrent to overcome the reduction reactions. As a consequence, PEC researchers currently confront significant difficulties in achieving great efficiency at a reasonable cost ( 2500 USD). To overcome the difficulties PV-PEC hybrid configuration using photovoltaic solar cells is advantageous because an extra voltage can be supplied by technologically advanced PV cells resulting possible to achieve higher STH % to meet the current global energy demands. However, design of low cost, transparent and stable solar cells, photocathode and photoanodes is still challenging. In this project, to address the above-mentioned problems, eco-friendly photocathodes photoanodes are going to be designed using copper wires or foils from e-waste. Furthermore, semitransparent perovskite solar cells with high efficiency were going to be design and fabricate at a laboratory scale. Finally with the optimized components construction of PV-PEC hybrid devices for hydrogen production. This project intends to closely work towards the objectives of the National hydrogen Mission and possibly to achieve zero-emission technologies. Further the results obtained would provide a new direction for Eco-Design Electrodes for solar-driven chemical fuel devices. |