Saima Noreen

The synthetic industry has shortened human lifespans because of environmental contamination. Numerous physicochemical methods can be used to decompose the released organic contaminants, but heterogeneous photocatalysis stands out among them. The creation of a novel sunlight-active heterogeneous photocatalyst, ZVI@MnFe₂O₄/PTh, for possible degradation of RhB dye is discussed in this study. The nanocomposite was fabricated using the hydrothermal method and in situ polymerization of thiophene. The ternary composite photocatalyst (ZVI@MnFe₂O₄/PTh) and photocatalysts (ZVI@MnFe₂O₄ and MnFe₂O₄/PTh) were well characterized in terms of structure (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), morphology (scanning electron microscopy), composition (energy-dispersive X-ray), and crystallinity (X-ray diffraction). UV–visible spectroscopic analysis (Tauc plot) was used to determine the energy bandgaps of catalysts. The characterization study supports the successful assembly of ZVI@MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles and polythiophene. To evaluate the photocatalytic performance, the photocatalytically helped degradation of Rhodamine B dye from wastewater was also investigated over the new catalysts. The designed heterojunction enhances photogenerated charge separation and stimulates the photocatalytic process. The proposed study’s findings demonstrated that the novel composite’s sunlight-active photocatalytic effectiveness (99% in 90 min at pH 4) was enhanced against the degradation of Rhodamine B dye. Different models were utilized to predict the reaction’s kinetics, and RSM was utilized as a statistical technique to examine the individual and then interaction effects of the influencing parameters. The RSM results were supported by the numerical values of the optimized parameters, which were pH = 4, H₂O₂ = 10 mM, and composite dose = 20 mg/50 mL, utilizing a 100 ppm RhB solution.

The stability, effectiveness, and versatility of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) can only be improved with advanced solar materials, opening the door for future‐oriented green energy solutions. In this study, eight recently developed anthracene‐based triphenylamine hole transporting layers, HTLs, (PEH‐S1‐PEH‐S8), derived from the PEH‐R core with thiophene and acceptor substitutions, are systematically investigated using DFT and TD‐DFT calculations at B3LYP/6‐31G** level. These HTL materials' optical, electrical, and charge‐transport characteristics are thoroughly evaluated to understand the structure‐property relationship. The PEH‐S7 molecule facilitates the efficient transfer of electronic densities from HOMO to LUMO by elucidating the maximum absorbance at 730 nm, the highest oscillator frequency (f = 1.687), the greatest light harvesting efficacy (LHE = 0.979), and the highest electron affinity (EA = 2.96 eV) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) solvent with the highest open circuit voltage (V _oc = 1.38 V). This also showed higher solar efficiency (19.89%) than commercial spiro‐OMeTAD. Comparing PEH‐S1‐PEH‐S8 to the PEH‐R, it is discovered that their electron and hole mobilities are higher. These findings show that the energy levels, reorganization energies, optical and charge‐transport properties of HTL materials can be successfully tuned by strategic peripheral substitution with thiophene and electron‐acceptor groups, thereby guiding the design of future high‐performance PSCs and practical device applications.