The diploma thesis deals with the study of perovskite solar cells with a regular n-i-p architecture. The theoretical part of this work is mainly focused on the stability of perovskite solar cells, i.e. thermal stability and the influence of UV radiation on final perovskite solar cell stability. Furthermore, the deposition methods, the architecture of solar cells and the materials used for the preparation of electron and hole transport layers were described in more detail. The experimental part deals with the optimization of the preparation of perovskite solar cells (especially in terms of resulting photovoltaic conversion efficiency), with a description of the structure preparation process of the final photovoltaic cell and the interpretation of the measured results.

This diploma thesis was focused on the preparation of mesoporous titanium dioxide layers. Mesoporous layers were prepared from titanium tetraisopropoxide as a precursor with addition diethanolamine and polyethylene glycol. These layers were deposited by material printing. This work was also focused on the characterisation of prepared layers. Hydrophilicity of titanium dioxide layers were studied. The photocatalytic activity of the printed titanium layers was tested by the photocatalytic degradation of stearic acid. Bang-gap studies were performed. Quality of prepared layers was inspected by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy.

This work deals with issue of preparation active electrochromic film of titanium dioxide and intercalation properties. By electrodeposition was created active film on glass substrates covered with transparent conductive thin-film In2O3:Sn (ITO). The active films prepared by electrolytic way were compared with active films prepared by vacuum methods. Then has been studied theirs electrode properties in electrolytes containing lithium.

This thesis deals with the preparations of titanium and tungsten dioxide active electrochromic layers and simulation of link between electrochromic structures and photovoltaic cell. By means of electrodeposition, the active layers were made on the glass substrates ITO. These layers were subsequently analyzed, namely their intercalation properties. In this thesis, I tried to design the link between the electrochromic element and the photovoltaic cell. After this, functionality of this link was verified by software environment MATLAB Simulink.

This thesis is focused on gathering all available information on the application forms of photocatalytic TiO2 in concretes, especially in the surface layers of precast and monolithic structures. The paper describes in detail the properties of titanium dioxide alone, his special abilities, leading to a substantial improvement of the environment, through photocatalysis. Further verification methods are described photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide and titanium dioxide application in real projects. The practical part is tested recipes of secondary coatings from the production of company Precheza a.s. Přerov.

Le transport de nanoparticules (NP) de dioxyde de titane (TiO2) manufacturées a été étudié dans un milieu poreux sous différentes conditions de saturation, vitesse d’écoulement et force ionique (IS). Les courbes de percée montrent que la quantité de NP retenue diminue quand la vitesse d’écoulement augmente, et qu’elle est influencée par la teneur en eau en présence d’une IS plus grande que 3 mM KCl. On peut supposer que l’interface entre eau et air (AWI) ne retient pas de NP en présence d’IS supérieurs ou égaux à 3 mM KCl. Les courbes de percées des expériences conduites en présence d’une IS de 5 mM, influencées par les profils de teneur en eau et de vitesse, ont été modélisées. Le modèle de transport 3P, qui tient en compte l’AWI et les effets de la vitesse, a été développé pour décrire la rétention des NP. Ce modèle dépend de trois paramètres et du profil de teneur en eau, modélisé à travers les paramètres hydrodynamiques identifiés auparavant. Le modèle 3P donne lieu à une meilleure description des données par rapport à celle du modèle classique, souvent utilisé en littérature. Il peut d’ailleurs être utilisé en milieu saturé comme insaturé. / The transport of manufactured titanium dioxide (TiO2, rutile) nanoparticles (NP) in porous media was investigated under different saturation, water velocity and ionic strength (IS) conditions. The breakthrough curves show that the amount of retained NPs decreases when the water velocity increased and that TiO2 NP retention is influenced by the water content for values of IS larger than 3mM KCl. It can be assumed that the interface between air and water (AWI) does not retain TiO2 NPfor IS equal to, or smaller than, 3 mM KCl.The breakthrough curves with an IS of 5mM KCl, influenced by water content profile and watervelocity profile, were modeled. The 3P transport model was developed to describe the retention ofTiO2 NP, taking into account the AWI and the effects of the water velocity. This model depends on three parameters and takes into account the water content profile of the porous medium, modeled through the previously identified hydrodynamic parameters. The 3P model provides a better data description than the classic Langmuirian retention model, often used in the literature. Moreover, it can be applied under both saturated and unsaturated conditions.

In nature, cells are not randomly clustered to form tissues. The tissue is a more complicated system with functions that go beyond what any single cell type could accomplish. While studying single-cell mechanics and dynamics is relevant from an investigative point of view, this approach loses, or fail to gather information about the tissue. The tissue investigated in this study is the neurosensory retina which seeing as extension of the brain is a very convenient model for the central nervous system due to its accessibility. The retina is constantly subjected to different mechanical stresses from development to adulthood. Although the majority of the phenomena where mechanical stresses are involved are well-studied, the mechanics behind them is not well understood. However, knowledge about the ability of the retina to adjust to mechanical stresses is essential, for example, for improving retinal surgery. Establishing a method to mechanically probe the retina is a challenge due to the extremely delicate nature of this multilayered neural tissue and to the short-time survival ex vivo. The organotypic tissue culture is a powerful tool because it allows to maintain with high accuracy the complex multicellular anatomy and the microenvironment of the original tissue. One of the limitations of the organotypic culture techniques has been until recently due to the ability to use only post-natal/juvenile tissues for long-term culture. The importance of using adult tissue is incontestable when the investigation focuses on age-related pathologies such as vitreous shrinkage or macula degeneration. In this work, TiO2 nanotube arrays are presented as the innovative substrate for long-term organotypic culture of adult neural tissue. The retinal whole-mount of adult guinea pig and the brain slices of adult mouse were cultures for 14 days without showing any sign of edema or swelling. Furthermore, in order to study the behavior of the retinal tissue under shear stress new set-ups were designed. For the first time, the behavior of the retinal layers were observed showing that the retina does not act as an homogeneous material in response to an applied stress. The methods developed here can be used for future quantitative studies, to provide an exact knowledge of retinal biomechanics which will help retinal surgeons to optimize their methods.

Advanced oxidation technology (AOT) has been used to destroy microorganisms in ballast water by breaking down the cell membranes. The primary objective of this study was to determine the effects of a ballast water treatment system that uses a combination of UV-C (λ=254 nm), Vacuum-UV (VUV; λ=185 nm) and photocatalytic titanium dioxide (TiO2) on a freshwater algae, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, and a marine algae, Tetraselmis suecica. The coupling of a semiconductor, such as TiO2, with a UV source is known as an advanced oxidative technology (AOT). To test the effects of TiO2 and wave length on algae, dose-response experiments were conducted to determine the species median lethal dose (LC50) for each of the following treatments: UV-light emitted at 254 nm (UVλ=254 nm), UV-light emitted at 254 nm in the presence of TiO2 (AOTλ=254 nm), and UV-light emitted at λ=254 nm (90 %) and 185 nm (90 %) in the presence of TiO2 (AOTλ=185 + 254 nm). In both species, TiO2 significantly increased mortality, most likely due to the biologically harmful radicals generated at the TiO2 surface. The addition of the 185 nm wavelength significantly increased cell mortality in P. subcapitata, but not in T. suecica. Across all three treatments, P. subcapitata was more sensitive than T. suecica. The secondary purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of ImageJ, an image analysis software, for highthroughput data to analyze the effectiveness of ballast water treatment. ImageJ has been used to rapidly and accurately perform cell Live/Dead analysis; however, several hurdles were identified.

Water pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, became an important public health issue over the last years for their extensive presence in the aquatic ecosystem. Among several pollutants, antibiotics are especially worrying because of their potential to induce antimicrobial resistance in microorganisms. The inability of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to effectively remove these pollutants makes necessary to find alternative methods for their elimination. Photocatalysis may become an alternative process since it allows rapid and efficient removal, transforming the initial compound into harmless products. It is a promising method because it uses nanomaterials that are highly photocatalytically active, photo-stable, and non-toxic. Anticipating the need for safe and more efficient water treatment methods, the scope of this thesis concerns the synthesis of different photocatalytic materials, as well as their characterization, determination of their photocatalytic properties, and respective reusability. In this context, the polymeric nanocomposites were produced by electrospinning and solvent casting, and the photocatalytic magnetic particles by co-precipitation and sol-gel. Their different morphologies and characteristics explain their different photocatalytic properties. Some of these materials overcome the limitations of the already existing materials regarding reusability and photocatalytic properties. A direct comparison of these materials in the literature proves difficult, as the experimental conditions, such as irradiation and types of photoreactors, are different among the different research groups. This thesis overcomes such limitations and therefore provides insights into the relative performance of different immobilization alternatives tested under identical conditions. The first task in this thesis is to provide evidence for the presence of pharmaceuticals in wastewater and the ability of the photocatalysts that were later intended to be immobilized to degrade them. In particular, it concerned pharmaceuticals detected on the wastewater effluent from Kaditz, Dresden, Germany. It was analyzed the degradation of 14 pharmaceuticals with initial concentrations higher than 0.3 µg L–1. Suspended commercial nanoparticles of titanium dioxide (TiO2) P25 and zinc oxide (ZnO) were used as photocatalysts. It led to a considerable degradation of the analyzed pharmaceuticals by both catalysts. ZnO nanoparticles degraded 95 % of these pharmaceuticals after 40 min under ultraviolet radiation (UV), while TiO2 took more than six times longer to reach the same degradation level. Systems using suspended photocatalysts have been shown to successfully degrade pharmaceuticals. The technique, however, has some disadvantages. In particular, it adds an additional and expensive filtration or sedimentation step to remove the photocatalyst at the end of the process. Moreover, without a commercial-scale recycling process, these types of methods prove to be cost-ineffective. In light of the need to reuse photocatalysts, this work focuses on the immobilization of photocatalytic nanoparticles, such as ZnO, TiO2, TiO2/graphene oxide (GO), and tungsten oxide (WO3) and on the posterior use in the degradation of a model pollutant. The photocatalysts were immobilized by solvent casting in poly(vinylidene difluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE), and by electrospinning in PVDF-TrFE and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and their reuse was tested. Polymers are common materials suitable to be in contact with water. Therefore, these materials can be applied as valid catalysts support tools to remove organic contaminants from water. In this context, ZnO showed high toxicity towards Vibrio fischeri and consequently it should not be used, as it might have potential environmental impacts and biological effects. The TiO2 nanocomposites produced by electrospinning showed improved surface area and higher porosity compared to the solvent casting method, which is important for water percolation. In addition to the benefits of immobilization, TiO2/GO particles immobilized in the PVDF-TrFE electrospun achieved higher degradation rates under simulated sunlight. It increased the photocatalytic degradation when compared with the nanocomposites prepared with pristine TiO2, in UV and simulated sunlight. Therefore, it allows for further savings in operation costs by removing the necessity of UV lamps. However, immobilization systems have the disadvantage of losing surface area when compared to the traditional suspension systems. These studies indicate that magnetic nanoparticles are a suitable approach to address this issue, as they act as an immobilized form of the catalyst but offer high surface area, similar to the suspended systems. The prepared magnetic nanoparticles exhibited high photocatalytic activity and high reusability since the magnetic nanoparticles can be easily recovered by means of an external magnetic field and further reused. It was observed that with these materials and exposure to UV radiation or simulated sunlight, the studied compounds were degraded. UV radiation, the support, and the photocatalysts per se provide no significant degradation of the tested compounds. In conclusion, the produced nanomaterials offer an ecologically promising and efficient method to mitigate environmental pollution, by-passing many of the current issues that prevent the application of the nanomaterials for water treatment. This method may be combined with conventional water treatment systems providing a cost-efficient technique to handle the degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous systems under visible light or UV. / Die Präsenz von Pharmazeutika in aquatischen Ökosystemen wurde in den letzten Jahren zu einem wichtigen Thema der öffentlichen Gesundheit. Unter anderem sind Antibiotika besonders besorgniserregend wegen ihres Potenzials, in Mikroorganismen Resistenzen zu verursachen. Von Kläranlagen können diese Schadstoffe nicht wirksam entfernt werden, deshalb müssen alternative Methoden für deren Beseitigung gefunden werden. Photokatalyse hat in diesem Zusammenhang das Potenzial der Alternative zu herkömmlichen Prozessen, da sie eine schnelle und effiziente Entfernung ermöglicht und die Ausgangsstoffe in harmlose Produkte umwandelt. Sie ist eine vielversprechende Methode, da sie Nanomaterialien verwendet, die photokatalytisch hochaktiv, lichtstabil und ungiftig sind. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Synthese unterschiedlicher photokatalytisch aktiver Materialien, der Charakterisierung ihrer photokatalytischen Eigenschaften, sowie ihrer Wiederverwendbarkeit. In diesem Zusammenhang wurden polymere Nanokomposite durch Elektrospinning und Solvent-Casting, sowie photokatalytisch aktive, magnetische Partikel durch Co-Precipitation und Sol-Gel-Technik, hergestellt. Es stellte sich heraus, dass Unterschiede in der Morphologie und in anderen Merkmalen die verschiedenen photokatalytischen Eigenschaften dieser Materialien erklären können. Einige dieser Materialien zeigten deutliche Verbesserungen gegenüber bereits Vorhandenen hinsichtlich Wiederverwendbarkeit und photokatalytischer Eigenschaften. Ein direkter Vergleich mit Literaturdaten erwies sich oft als schwierig, da die experimentellen Bedingungen, wie z.B. Bestrahlungsstärke und Art des Photoreaktors der verschiedenen Forschungsgruppen unterschiedlich waren. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt eine bessere Vergleichbarkeit her, indem sie alle erzeugten Materialien unter identischen Bedingungen testet. Der erste Teil dieser Arbeit beschäftigt sich damit, die Anwesenheit von Arzneimitteln im Abwasser nachzuweisen und außerdem die Aktivität der Photokatalysatoren, die später eingesetzt werden sollen, zu testen. Hier handelt es sich insbesondere um Arzneimittel, die im Abwasser aus der Kläranlage Kaditz, Dresden, gefunden wurden. Es wurde der Abbau von 14 Arzneimitteln mit Anfangskonzentrationen von mehr als 0.3 μg L-1 analysiert. Als Photokatalysatoren wurden suspendierte kommerzielle Nanopartikel aus Titandioxid (TiO2) P25 und Zinkoxid (ZnO) eingesetzt. Es wurde ein deutlicher Abbau der analysierten Arzneimittel durch beide Katalysatoren festgestellt. ZnO-Nanopartikel reduzierten die Arzneimittelkonzentration in 40 min um 95% unter UV-Strahlung (UV), während bei TiO2 zum Erreichen des gleichen Abbaugrades die 6-fache Zeit nötig war. Es wurde gezeigt, dass Systeme mit suspendierten Photokatalysatoren Arzneimittel erfolgreich abbauen können. Nachteilig ist jedoch der anschließend notwendige, teure Filtrations- oder Sedimentationsschritt zur Entfernung des Photokatalysators. Darüber hinaus erwiesen sich Methoden ohne kommerziell umsetzbares Recyclingverfahren als ökonomisch ineffizient. Angesichts der Notwendigkeit, Photokatalysatoren wiederzuverwenden, konzentriert sich die vorliegende Arbeit auf die Immobilisierung von photokatalytischen Nanopartikeln, wie z.B. ZnO, TiO2, TiO2/Graphenoxid (GO) oder Wolframoxid (WO3) und auf die spätere Verwendung für den Abbau eines Modell-Schadstoffs. Die Photokatalysatoren wurden durch Solvent-Casting in Poly(vinyliden-difluorid-co-trifluorethylen) (PVDF-TrFE) und durch Elektrospinning in PVDF-TrFE und Poly(methylmethacrylat) (PMMA) immobilisiert. Anschließend wurde ihre Wiederverwendbarkeit getestet. Diese Polymere sind handelsübliche Materialien, die für den Wasserkontakt geeignet sind. Daher können diese als Binder für Katalysatoren zur Entfernung organischer Verunreinigungen aus Wasser genutzt werden. ZnO zeigte dagegen eine hohe Toxizität gegenüber Vibrio fischeri, weshalb ein Einsatz in wässrigem Medium wegen potenzieller Umweltauswirkungen nicht geeignet erscheint. Die durch Elektrospinnen hergestellten TiO2-Nanokomposite zeigten im Vergleich mit den durch Solvent-Casting hergestellten eine verbesserte Oberfläche mit höherer Porosität, was für die Wasser-Perkolation wichtig ist. Vergleicht man die untersuchten Polymerfilm-Komposite hinsichtlich ihrer Abbaugeschwindigkeiten unter simuliertem Sonnenlicht und UV-Licht, dann erreichten die TiO2/GO-Partikel, die durch Elektrospinning in PVDF-TrFE immobilisiert wurden, die höchste Geschwindigkeit. Die Möglichkeit des Einsatzes von Sonnenlicht anstelle von UV-Lampen führt zu Kosteneinsparung.

Der rapide Anstieg der Bevölkerung führt zu einer dramatischen Zunahme des Brennstoff- und Energiebedarfs. Längerfristig kann die nachhaltige Energieversorgung der Menschheit nur durch erneuerbare Energiequellen gewährleistet werden. Dies motiviert die Bemühungen um alternative, sauberere Brennstofftechnologien wie z.B. die Erzeugung von Wasserstoff. Diese Arbeit untersucht die Verbesserung der optoelektronischen Eigenschaften von Silizium Photokathoden, durch optische Nanostrukturen, die die Reflexion mittels optischer Resonanzen reduzieren. Wir konzentrieren uns dabei auf die Entwicklung von Nanostrukturen , die optische Konzepte wie Mie-Resonanzen und periodische Indexprofilierung nutzen. Um diese optischen Nanostrukturen zu realisieren, verwenden wir zwei Herstellungsverfahren. Die Verfahren werden durch einen iterativen Ansatz optimiert, um zu den Nanostrukturen mit den gewünschten optischen Eigenschaften zu gelangen. Die erste Art von Nanostrukturen gehört zur Klasse der Meta-Oberflächen (Metasurfaces) und wird durch Elektronenstrahl- Lithographie und Top-Down-Herstellung implementiert. Die optischen Spektren dieser Strukturen werden dann mit Hilfe von Simulation und Experimenten eingehend untersucht. Die zweite Art von Nanostrukturen basiert auf Änderungen des Brechzahlprofils von dielektrischen periodischen Nanostrukturen. Diese Strukturen werden durch Maskenlithographie mittels Polystyrol-Kugeln hergestellt. Auch bei diesen Strukturen werden die optischen Eigenschaften vermessen und ihre physikalischen Bedeutung mit Hilfe von numerischen Simulationen analysiert. Um den Einfluss dieser Strukturen auf die Kurzschlussstromdichten von Silizium Photokathoden zu demonstrieren, charakterisieren wir den Photostrom, der über einen Silizium-Elektrolyt-pn-Übergang mit und ohne Nanostrukturen gemessen wird. Zusammenfassend stellen wir einen Vergleich der Antireflexionseigenschaften der beiden entwickelten Strukturen sowie eine Verbesserung der photoelektrochemischen Funktionalität vor. Daraus leiten wir Ideen für zukünftige Oberflächendesigns ab, welche die noch bestehenden Nachteile beider Strukturen überwinden. / Global fuel and energy demands continue to increase due to the rapid rise in population and the dependence of this increasing population on exisiting energy resources for its sustainance. This has led to efforts in developing cleaner fuel sources such as hydrogen generation. This thesis focuses on demonstrating the optical benefit of nanostructures to improve the optoelectronic functioning of silicon photocathodes which aid in hydrogen generation via nanostructured antireflection. We lay our focus on the development of nanostructures which utilise optical concepts such as Mie type resonances based on metasurfaces and periodic index profiling. Computational design is used to obtain structure parameters for achieving desired effects. To implement these optical effects we take aid of two methods of fabrication. These fabrication methods are optimised via iterative trials to arrive at nanostructures of high quality. The first type of nanostructures belong to the metasurface class. These are implemented by e-beam lithography and top down processing. The optical spectra are then comapred with aid of simulation and experiments. The second type of nanostructures belong to the class of gradually varying periodic nanostructures. We obtain these via iterative fabrication using colloidal mask lithography. In a subsequent step we analyse experimentally their optical spectra and with aid of simulations analyse their physical implication. To demonstrate an optical benefit of these structures on enhancing the short circuit current densities of silicon photocathodes, we characterise the photocurrent measured across the silicon-electrolyte pn-junction with and without nanostructures and evaluate this increase. In conclusion, we provide a comparison of the antireflection properties offered by the two developed structures as well as in terms of improving photoelectrochemical environment. As an outlook, we propose ideas to overcome the existing drawbacks of both structures.