Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences - Department of Laser Applications in Environmental Metrology Photochemistry and Agriculture

Renewable environment friendly energy resources are needed to meet our clean energy demand. Solar energy is the most prevalent renewable resource on the planet, and efficient conversion of solar energy to more useful forms such as electricity will help meet the increasing demands for energy in the near future. Graphene is one-atom-thick planar sheets of sp2 bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice ideally suited for implementation in electrochemical and photoelectric applications owing to their remarkable high electron mobility (15,000 cm2/ VS), extremely large surface area (~2600 m2/g), transparency, unique heterogeneous electron transfer and charge carrier rates, widely applicable electro-catalytic activity, and low production costs. Consequently graphene has been utilized beneficially as a promising alternate electrode material in many applications for enhancing specific technological fields and particularly the issues surrounding energy storage and generation. Another promising nonmaterial for energy conversion is Semiconductor whose excitons (electron-hole pair) are confined in all three spatial dimensions. So, such materials have electronic properties intermediate between those of bulk semiconductors and those of discrete molecules whose electronic characteristics are closely related to the size and shape. Generally, the smaller the size of the crystal, the larger the band gap leading to several applications in transistors, LEDs, solar cells, and diode lasers

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