Energy Production Technologies Research Articles

OPERATION FEATURES OF ENVIRONMENTALLY EFFICIENT BOILER PLANTS OF MUNICIPAL THERMAL POWER ENGINEERING

The work is devoted to research on the improvement of thermal energy production technologies in gas-consuming heating boiler installations while improving their environmental performance and increasing the operation reliability. The work purpose is to study the heat and humidity modes of the air-supply ducts of boiler plants with exhaust gases recirculation systems into the blown air. The main objectives of the study are: to determine the thermal parameters of a heating boiler with a 2 MW heating capacity with a exhaust gases recirculation system mixed with blown air into its furnace space under conditions of using heat recovery technologies and without them; determination and analysis the heat and humidity parameters of this mixture in different operating modes of boiler plants. Known thermal calculation methods of boiler plants and data from our own experimental studies of heat transfer during deep cooling of boiler plant exhaust gases were used. The thermal calculation results of the heating boiler with a system for exhaust gas recirculation into its furnace space mixed with blown air are presented. The regularities of changes in the adiabatic combustion temperature and heat-humidity characteristics of the above mixture depending on the boiler heat load in different its operation modes during the heating period and the share of flue gas recirculation from 10 to 20 % were established. The research results show that the introduction of recirculation gases leads to a decrease by 150 – 250 °С of the adiabatic combustion temperature tad due to the need to consume fuel heat for heating the introduced ballast and the greater of the recirculation share s the lower the level of the indicated temperature. The research results also showed that gas recirculation causes insignificant (in the range of 0.5 – 4.7 °С) changes in the temperature of the boiler exhaust gases. Based on the data obtained, the change regularities in the heat-humidity characteristics (temperature and dew point) of the mixture of recirculated gases and air in different boiler operating modes during the heating period and under the studied recirculation shares were established. It is shown that recirculation causes condensate formation on the surfaces of air ducts in all operating modes of boiler and in some modes their icing is possible. To prevent these negative phenomena, it is necessary to apply measures to increase the temperature of the gas-air mixture by a value not less than Δtsum = 15 – 35 °С.

Nanocatalysts in photocatalytic water splitting for green hydrogen generation: Challenges and opportunities

Green hydrogen is a promising technology for sustainable energy production, with photocatalytic water splitting offering several advantages over wind/solar-powered water electrolysis. The focus of this review paper is on high-performance photocatalysts, which are key to improving the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen production. First, the general principles of photocatalytic hydrogen production and the factors affecting photocatalytic performance are summarized. Then, the conventional semiconductor photocatalysts including methods to improve their catalytic activities are comprehensively reviewed, which is followed by a detailed discussion of representative nano-photocatalysts. The performance of photocatalysts is affected by various factors, such as optical absorption, separation and transport efficiency of photocarriers, and redox capacity. The entire process of photocatalytic hydrogen production can be optimized through methods such as element doping, cocatalyst location, morphology adjustment, and heterojunction construction. Finally, photocatalysts of different dimensions, along with the challenges and future research directions, are summarized based on comparisons of numerous studies. This review provides a quick start guide for investigating the application of high-performance photocatalysts in green hydrogen production from photocatalytic hydrolysis, and offers insight into the latest advancements in photochemical conversion efficiency. It also provides a valuable reference for selecting nanomaterials and optimizing photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Assessment of Current Blue Energy Technologies and Their Potential Applications on Romanian Water Resources

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of unconventional renewable and sustainable energy production options by tapping into the energy associated with the natural tendency to cancel salinity gradients that occur when salt water and fresh water come into contact. Furthermore, this paper assesses the potential for generating blue energy in Romania by examining historical data on flow rates from relevant fresh water sources, such as the Danube River, and the salt loading of potential receiving water bodies, including salt lakes, and the Black Sea. In addition, this study briefly references pilot-level technologies for blue energy production in other countries, including Norway, Japan, and the European Union. Based on literature data, this paper highlights the most important technological methods with applicative potential for harnessing energy from salinity gradients. The performances and limitations of these methods have been presented, acknowledging that despite recent years of advancements in materials and technologies, large-scale implementation and commercialization efforts are still limited. The analyzed data reveals that Romania possesses substantial potential blue energy resources for both large capacity installations, such as the Danube River-Black Sea with a potential achievable capacity of about 50 MW, as well as smaller capacity devices situated around saline lakes and salt deposits. This study concludes that Romania has a unique opportunity to capitalize on its vast blue energy potential and drive sustainable energy development.

Parametric study and thermodynamic performance analysis of a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell-Stirling engine system for cogeneration applications

Given the increase in global energy consumption, the scarcity of fossil fuel resources, and the rise in environmental pollution have necessitated the use of novel technologies in energy production. Among these technologies, fuel cells have attracted researcher's attention due to their low environmental pollution, high efficiency, and ability to be combined with other power generation systems. The present research studies the performance of a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell-Stirling engine (SOFC-ST) system from a thermodynamic perspective. To this end, the fuel cell and the Stirling engine were modeled via coding in MATLAB software. The decision variables in this analysis were the current density, fuel utilization factor, fuel flow rate, number of fuel cells, air flow rate, and type of fuel used in the fuel cell. According to the results, when hydrogen is used as the fuel in the fuel cell, its power generation increases from 60 kW to 67 kW and its efficiency rises from 44.2% to 49.4% with the addition of the Stirling engine. However, if the fuel is methane, the power generated by the fuel cell increases from 19.9 kW to 26.6 kW, while its efficiency increases from 36.9% to 49.2%.

Customized Multichannel Measurement System for Microbial Fuel Cell Characterization.

This work presents the development of an automatic and customized measuring system employing sigma-delta analog-to-digital converters and transimpedance amplifiers for precise measurements of voltage and current signals generated by microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The system can perform multi-step discharge protocols to accurately measure the power output of MFCs, and has been calibrated to ensure high precision and low noise measurements. One of the key features of the proposed measuring system is its ability to conduct long-term measurements with variable time steps. Moreover, it is portable and cost-effective, making it ideal for use in laboratories without sophisticated bench instrumentation. The system is expandable, ranging from 2 to 12 channels by adding dual-channel boards, which allows for testing of multiple MFCs simultaneously. The functionality of the system was tested using a six-channel setup, and the results demonstrated its ability to detect and distinguish current signals from different MFCs with varying output characteristics. The power measurements obtained using the system also allow for the determination of the output resistance of the MFCs being tested. Overall, the developed measuring system is a useful tool for characterizing the performance of MFCs, and can be helpful in the optimization and development of sustainable energy production technologies.

Costs of Gasification Technologies for Energy and Fuel Production: Overview, Analysis, and Numerical Estimation

During recent years, gasification technology has gained a high potential and attractiveness to convert biomass and other solid wastes into a valuable syngas for energy production or synthesis of new biofuels. The implementation of real gasification facilities implies a good insight of all expenses that are involved, namely investments required in equipment during the project and construction phases (capital expenditures, CapEx) and costs linked to the operation of the plant, or periodic maintenance interventions (operational expenditures, OpEx) or costs related to operations required for an efficient and sustainable performance of a gasification plant (e.g., feedstock pre-treatment and management of by-products). Knowledge of these economic parameters and their corresponding trends over time may help decision-makers to make adequate choices regarding the eligible technologies and to perform comparisons with other conventional scenarios. The present work aims to provide an overview on CapEx associated with gasification technologies devoted to convert biomass or solid waste sources, with a view of reducing the carbon footprint during energy generation or production of new energy carriers. In addition, an analysis of technology cost trends over time using regression methods is also presented, as well as an evaluation of specific capital investments according to the amount of output products generated for different gasification facilities. The novelty of this work is focused on an analysis of CapEx of existing gasification technologies to obtain distinct products (energy and fuels), and to determine mathematical correlations relating technology costs with time and product output. For these purposes, a survey of data and categorization of gasification plants based on the final products was made, and mathematical regression methods were used to obtain the correlations, with a statistical analysis (coefficient of determination) for validation. Specific investments on liquid biofuel production plants exhibited the highest decreasing trend over time, while electricity production became the least attractive solution. Linear correlations of specific investment versus time fitted better for electricity production plants (R2 = 0.67), while those relating the product output were better for liquid biofuel plants through exponential regressions (R2 = 0.65).

Enhancing photocatalytic C-O/N coupling reaction over covalent organic frameworks by pull-push electron group regulation

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as novel materials in photocatalytic technology for green energy and chemicals production. However, exploring highly efficient and stable COFs based materials for photocatalytic aromatic ethers and amines synthesis is still urgent. Herein, olefin-linked COFs modified with or without –F/-OCH3 groups were constructed by Knoevenagel condensation reaction. In addition, Ni active sites were embedded in the frameworks through bipyridine units to afford highly efficient and repeatable photocatalytic C-O/N coupling reaction. Through this strategy, it was found that the -F group modification greatly elevated photogenerated carriers separation efficiency attributing to its strong electronegativity and electron-withdrawing properties. Photocatalytic experiments conveyed that sp2c-F-COFdpy-Ni displayed highest photocatalytic activity and catalyzed cross-coupling of aryl C-O/N both with high yield exceeding 99 %, and exhibited excellent substrate compatibility for aryl bromides substituted with electron-withdrawing/donating groups. This investigation provides new insights into structure design of COFs for photocatalytic organic transformation.

Influence of carbon type on the structure of Na2MnPO4F/C as cathode material

Energy production and storage technologies have attracted much attention for everyday applications. Sodium-ion battery (SIB) has been recognized as one of the most potent types of technology for low-cost rechargeable batteries due to its abundant sodium resource. In the following, the synthesis of Na2MnPO4F /C material with the type of carbon is Citric Acid and Glucose using the solid-state method. The structure, morphology, particle size dimensions, etc. of the prepared materials were studied by XRD, SEM-EDX, DTA-TGA, PSA, and FTIR. The result is that Na2MnO4 with P21/n space group is a monoclinic structure and there is a decrease in cell volume and crystal size due to carbon coating. The particle sizes of NMPF 0%, NMPF 5%G, and NMPF 5%CA were 1127, 730, and 532 nm, respectively, with irregular particle shapes. However, it can be observed that glucose has more carbon content than citric acid as seen from the EDX results. The functional groups FTIR results obtained were Mn-O (stretching), O-P-O (bending-asymmetry), P-O (stretching-symmetry/asymmetry), and C-C (stretching-symmetry).

Design of solar power plant and real-time voltage quality monitoring system using LabVIEW

This research presents the design of a solar power generation system in combination with energy storage unit. The objective of this research is to apply renewable energy production technology to reduce the use of external energy. this research was to design a solar power generation system for beef cattle breeding group, Na Yom sub-district, Mueang district, Phetchabun province. The solar power generation system is designed to be installed on the roof. In addition, this research study and development of innovative prototypes for real-time solar voltage quality monitoring system using the LabVIEW program. The study results showed that this solar power generation system in combination with the energy storage unit can supply the load covering the energy consumption of the beef cowshed, which can reduce the use of external electricity by 23.10% and the solar voltage quality monitoring system can display the results for the monitoring of the solar power generation system in conjunction with the real-time voltage quality. In addition to the objectives of this solar power generation system can be developed to further the innovation of renewable energy generation. If a group of farmers has built a widespread power generation system, including electricity generation from other types of renewable energy, it can be developed into a micro grid system for energy security

Synthesizing the market clearing mechanism based on the national power grid using hybrid of deep learning and econometric models: Evidence from the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX) market

In liberalized electricity markets, formulating the techno-economic functions of each market's participant restricts the resulting market clearing mechanism (MCM) into the market equilibrium. This study aims to synthesize the MCM based on a new perspective that correlates the nationwide energy supply and demand equilibrium with the wholesale market's prices. The nationwide energy capacities are collected from all the Japanese transmission and distribution utilities from 2016 to 2022. The demand curve is structured based on estimating the price elasticity of demand (PED) considering regional and hourly cross-sections using two-stage econometrics. The supply curve is structured based on the merit order effect of all existing energy production technologies. A long short-term-memory forecasting model is employed to capture the non-stationarity and -linearity of the prices. The estimated PED varies spatiotemporally from −0.017 to −0.25. From the synthesized MCMs, Kyushu region's price drop to nearly zero is justified by the 93.5% clean supply and the use of regional interconnections. Nationally, nuclear, hydroelectric, and hydro-storage contributions to the supply mix and the balancing market launching have mitigated the price spike of 2022. In addition, the planned share increase of baseload resources in 2030 drives the prices lower with higher stability versus the current electricity mix.

Unraveling the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on South Korea’s Macroeconomy: Unearthing Novel Transmission Channels within the Energy Sector and Production Technologies

As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Korea’s economy has experienced significant setbacks. Thus, this article examines the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on Korea’s key macroeconomic indicators via the transmission channels of oil prices and production technology. Using Bayesian estimation and impulse response functions for empirical investigation, the results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the reduction in firm production, consumption of oil-based goods, employment, and investment. Increasingly, households rely on non-oil goods rather than oil-based ones. Similarly, the results suggest that the drop in production technology levels brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has a stronger impact on business output and investment but a lesser influence on household employment. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a decline in household non-oil consumption as well as household and business consumption of oil-based goods. To sum up, the existing Korean literature on this issue might be improved by including the findings offered in this article.

S-Scheme and Schottky Junction Synchronous Regulation Boost Hierarchical CdS@Nb2O5/Nb2CTx (MXene) Heterojunction for Photocatalytic H2 Production

Photocatalytic water cracking hydrogen (H2) production is a promising clean energy production technology. Therefore, a ternary CdS@Nb2O5/Nb2CTx (MXene) heterojunction with hierarchical structure was designed to promote photocatalytic H2 evolution. When Na2S/Na2SO3 and lactic acid were used as sacrificial agents, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) rates of the optimized photocatalyst were 1501.7 and 2715.8 μmol g-1 h-1, with 12.4% and 26.1% apparent quantum efficiencies (AQE) at 420 nm, respectively. Its HER performance was 10.9-fold higher than that of pure CdS and remained 87% activity after five rounds of cycle tests. Such an enhancement stems from the excellent light absorption properties, tight interfacial contact, fast charge transfer channel, and sufficient active sites. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that S-scheme and Schottky junction synchronous regulation boost hierarchical CdS@Nb2O5/Nb2CTx for photocatalytic H2 production. This work creates possibilities for manufacturing Nb-based MXene photocatalysts for converting solar energy and other applications.

Technoeconomic Optimization of a Photovoltaic Wind Energy‐Based Hydrogen Refueling Station: A Case Study

Increased use of renewable energy sources is expected to contribute to long‐term sustainability and robust economic growth. A better global economy and lower greenhouse gas emissions are possible due to intensive research into more effective energy production, storage, and utilization technologies. The exciting solution for advancing the development of green hydrogen production and the clean transportation sector is the conversion of electrical energy generated from wind parks into green hydrogen. Therefore, herein, a technoeconomic optimization of hydrogen production for refueling fuel cell vehicles by comparing two different renewable energy sources is presented. Results obtained in this article demonstrate that Riyadh possesses sufficient wind speed and sunlight, which can be used to produce renewable hydrogen. It is evident from the evaluated and optimized results that the selected wind‐based hybrid energy system has the lowest net present cost, levelized cost of energy, and levelized cost of hydrogen of $247,654.00, $/kWh 0.1720, and $/kg 4.23, respectively, as compared to the other system counterpart, making the selected optimized hybrid energy system the preferred choice to fulfill the electricity and hydrogen production demand of the refueling fuel cell vehicles. It is expected that the stakeholders through this study can encourage the production of hydrogen in Saudi Arabia.

GENERATION UNIT COMMITMENT MIXED INTEGER LINEAR MODEL FOR SIMULTANEOUS HEAT AND ELECTRIC DAILY LOAD COVERING

The unit commitment problem nowadays is widely used in the electric power sector. The problem was first time formulated in the 1940-s and still developing both methodologically and by including an additional number of technologies each of which has a different unique mathematical treatment corresponding to the specific technology's behavior. The common characteristic of the problem such as that is dedicated to the electricity production sector, hence the mathematical formulation is following pure electricity sector transformation but during the last years the Power-to-X technologies are implemented and their further development is expected in the future. This requires the advancement or at least modification of the problem formulation to meet possible exchange and usage between different types of energy within one integrated power system. The goal of the article is to further development of the existing versions of the unit commitment problem, which are dedicated to the operation of the generation in the power system by implementing additional equations allowing contemplation of the heat energy-producing technologies which are dedicated to cover a heat-energy load of the district heating systems. This should allow for conducting comprehensive studies of the simultaneous operation of electric- and heat-generating technologies to meet the energy demand of local energy systems, which is important for designing distributed generation mix, for example at a municipal level. The proposed mixed integer linear generation unit commitment model for simultaneous heat and electric daily load covering is described in the article. The proposed model in addition to the pure electric power balance also meets heat load using only-heat technologies (fuel boilers), combined heat and power units, and also industrial-scale electric boilers - which are converting electricity to heat energy. Keywords: mixed integer linear model, unit commitment problem, integrated power system, electric boilers, power-to-X technologies, conventional electricity generating technologies.

Solar Fuel Production from Hydrogen Sulfide: An Upstream Energy Perspective

Hydrogen sulfide is readily available in vast quantities in the subsurface as a byproduct of industrial processes. Hydrogen evolution from H2S can transform this highly toxic gas into a source of green fuel. Compared to water splitting, H2S dissociation is thermodynamically more favorable. However, feasible industrial‐scale catalytic technologies are not developed yet. The recovery of valuable chemicals using carbon‐neutral photocatalytic processes can capitalize on abundant solar irradiation and advanced semiconductors. The challenge is developing photocatalysts that can efficiently operate over the long term in the harsh environment of subsurface and industry, while utilizing as much of the light source spectrum as possible and providing optimum adsorption/desorption abilities of hydrogen and sulfur‐containing intermediates. Meeting these requirements demands improved kinematic models of photocatalytic H2S decomposition to assess the effect of high temperatures, pressures, mixtures of hydrocarbons, produced water, and other contaminants. Metal sulfides‐based catalysts may be the key to H2S decomposition in the subsurface (e.g., oil and gas reservoirs) and wellbores, but first they need to be upscaled as bulk, robust, and recyclable materials. This review presents a guide for the development of the upstream energy production technology via photocatalytic H2S conversion.

Considering embodied CO2 emissions and carbon compensation cost in life cycle cost optimization of carbon-neutral building energy systems

Renewable energy (RE) technologies are regarded as a solution to the climate impact of buildings, but some of these technologies contain embodied CO2 emissions, which have been ignored in most studies. Previous studies found carbon compensation to be necessary for reaching carbon neutrality as even the least carbon-intensive energy production technologies contain emissions related to manufacturing. The novelty of this study was to combine emission and cost calculations into a single method by including the compensation cost for the carbon footprint in the total life cycle cost (LCC) of carbon-neutral building energy systems. Embodied emissions were included in the carbon footprint of the building energy system in addition to operational emissions. The implemented RE technologies were dimensioned in an optimization loop by minimizing the total LCC of the energy system. The method was tested in a case study. The embodied emissions of the studied RE technology options for the case building accounted for up to 48% of the total carbon footprint, and carbon compensation accounted for 0.3–1.9% of the total LCC. The method was proven to be applicable to the cost-optimal dimensioning of carbon-neutral energy system options and is recommended for use in further studies regarding carbon-neutral building energy systems.

New paradigms in sustainable energy systems with hydrogen

Climate change, disturbance of the energy security resulting from increasing fuel prices due to conflicts, and disruptions to production and supply chains caused by COVID-19 have highlighted the need for the world to be prepared for future challenges. The environmental and climate change impacts of heavy use of fossil fuels for energy production have yielded numerous crucial challenges and will even cause increasingly more severe effects in the years to come. This is particularly important, as the utilization of fossil fuels is the largest contributor to the increasing emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which is leading to climate change and other problems. As a result, there is an emerging need to transition towards low or zero-emission energy systems where renewables and nuclear energy can play a critical role in the new energy equation and help establish the source ecosystem for hydrogen. Hydrogen, being the most abundant, clean, and energy-intensive element in nature, is an attractive alternative to fossil fuels. Furthermore, when produced using renewable energy sources, it is easier to reduce and control upstream emissions to produce or store hydrogen than fossil fuels. This study presents a framework for developing hydrogen technologies, building the necessary infrastructure, and selecting appropriate energy sources to help transition to a more sustainable and resilient energy system. There are also life cycle assessment studies conducted for various energy production technologies, including hydrogen, and their results are comparatively evaluated to confirm renewables and nuclear energy options would be the most suitable sources for hydrogen production. The global warming potential values of electricity production using nuclear and renewable energy are found to be 0.027 and 0.043 kg CO2 eq./kWh. Comparatively, the global warming potential for natural gas, oil and coal are found to be 0.2, 0.3 and 0.36 kg CO2 eq./kWh, respectively.

An Integral-Backstepping Controller for Interleaved Boost Converter based on Photovoltaic Systems

Photovoltaic systems are one of the most widely used technologies for sustainable energy production due to their various advantages, such as being clean, free, and renewable energy sources. However, the power generated by the PV systems is strongly dependent on the atmospheric conditions. In addition, a suitable DC/DC converter must be used with a robust controller to facilitate system operation point changes associated with the changed climate conditions. In this paper, to deal with this challenge, a photovoltaic system based on four leg interleaved boost converter (FLIBC) has been proposed and studied. For robustness, the presented system is controlled using nonlinear integral backstepping control (IBSC) to track the maximum power point (MPP) and ensure an equal sharing current among the FLIBC legs. Moreover, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to find the optimum gains of the proposed IBSC. The entire system is simulated and validated using MATLAB/ Simulink environment. The simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed system based on the optimized IBSC (OIBSC) controller in terms of MPP tracking speed, overshoot and undershoot reduction, power ripple, and optimization of the performance term integral time square error (ITSE).

ECOLOGICAL MARKETING IN THE PARADIGM OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECT

Theoretical and methodological approaches to the development of the field of marketing in the information society based on the principles of sustainable development are considered, which is due to the task of creating and maintaining, with the help of marketing, competitive advantages compatible with the tasks of the concept of sustainable development, adapting the marketing orientation of organizations to the needs of sustainable development in order to harmonize interaction «nature-society». It is shown that in the field of marketing, the focus on the concept of sustainable development actualized the formation of the ideology of sustainable marketing and sustainable consumption, a sustainable marketing organization and contributed to the formation of ecological marketing, which focuses on the demonstration of positive social and environmental behavior by companies to ethical consumers, responsibility for environmental safety, life and health consumers. In accordance with Ukraine’s course of integration into the European Union, the economic policy of the state is faced with the task of building the economy based on the principles of sustainable development. The issue of the need to combine the efforts of the state and civil society to implement the concept of sustainable development has been updated. It is indicated that in order to overcome the dominance of resource- and energy-intensive industries and technologies, the raw material orientation of exports that dominates in Ukraine, state policy should consider the achievements of the Fourth Technological Revolution and support science-oriented industries. The role of the achievements of the Fourth Technological Revolution, to solve the problems of sustainable development thanks to technologies of alternative energy production, «smart» technologies for the house, and cloud technologies, which become the basis for calculating the economical distribution of resources and optimal satisfaction of consumer needs, is considered. It is shown that with the efforts of civil society, with a formed environmental consciousness, it is possible to overcome the ideology of consumer society, which led to the global environmental crisis and prevent business from neglecting the requirements for environmental protection, saving capital investments in the ecological sphere.

Photoelectrochemical Degradation of Organic Pollutants Coupled with Molecular Hydrogen Generation Using Bi2O3/TiO2 Nanoparticle Arrays

The growing world population is closely associated with the increased demand of safe drinking water and sustainable energy production. This drives the focus of the scientific community to work toward water remediation and clean energy generation. The combination of photoelectrooxidation of pollutants at the anode with simultaneous hydrogen gas production at the cathode is a smart strategy to address these problems. Herein, we have designed a bifunctional photoelectrocatalytic system consisting of a self-standing photoanode to degrade the water pollutant molecules with simultaneous production of molecular hydrogen at the cathode. The photoanode was prepared by coating Bi2O3 over the surface of self-standing TiO2 nanorods. Thus, prepared photoelectrodes show high degradation efficiency for rhodamine molecules, where direct oxidation of rhodamine by the holes generated under solar light illumination was detrimental for its activity. During simultaneous pollutant removal and energy production experiments, the anode shows 100% degradation of pollutant molecules while the cathode shows high hydrogen gas production (128 mM cm–2 h–1). The prepared composite showed higher efficiency of visible-light absorbance, high charge generation capability, and low charge transfer resistance at the interface as determined via several characterizations, compared to the bare titania. The catalyst is easy to prepare and robust in activity for several kinds of pollutant molecules tested. Its robust activity, high stability, and durability open up an avenue for the wastewater treatment with simultaneous renewable energy production technologies.