Ricerc@Sapienza

Chalcopyrite leaching in acidic ferric sulfate media at ambient temperature exhibits slow kinetics due to the formation of passivation layers on chalcopyrite surfaces. In this study, we investigated the use of potassium iodide to assist chalcopyrite leaching and proposed mechanisms by which iodide enhanced the leaching efficiency. The effect of ferric concentration, temperature and iodide concentration on chalcopyrite leaching was studied by factorial experimental design and statistical analysis of data using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method.

Mesoporous NiO films were deposited by means of a screen printing technique onto fluorine-doped tin oxide transparent electrodes and consequently sensitized with Erythrosin B (EryB) dye. The obtained colored NiO material was used as a working electrode in a three-electrode cell to study the evolution of the triple semiconductor/dye/electrolyte interface upon electrochemical polarization in dark conditions. The electrolyte was a solution of I3 -/I- in acetonitrile, with the redox couple representing the typical redox shuttle of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs).