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Towards sustainable energy. Photocatalysis of Cr-doped TiO2: 4. Electrochemical coupling

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Abstract

The present chain of five papers considers the concept of solar-to-chemical energy conversion using TiO2-based semiconductors. The series reports the effect of chromium on the key performance-related properties of polycrystalline TiO2 (rutile), including electronic structure, photocatalytic activity, intrinsic defect disorder, electrochemical coupling and surface versus bulk properties. This work reports the effect of photoelectrochemical coupling of both pure and Cr-doped TiO2 on photocatalytic partial water oxidation. The couples are annealed in oxidising and reducing conditions, at p(O2) = 105 Pa and p(O2) = 10−10 Pa, respectively. The performance of the coupled system may be enhanced, or retarded, by the electrical potential barrier that is formed between the couple components as a result of the difference in Fermi levels. In this work, we show that the potential barrier results in the effect of synergy when the charge transport within the couple components is high enough. This is the case for the couples annealed in reducing conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solar Energy Technologies, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Kazi A. Rahman, T. Bak & J. Nowotny

  2. Institute of Environmental Research, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Kirrawee, NSW, 2232, Australia

    A. Atanacio, M. Ionescu & J. Davis

Authors
  1. Kazi A. Rahman
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  2. A. Atanacio
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  3. M. Ionescu
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  4. J. Davis
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  5. T. Bak
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  6. J. Nowotny
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Nowotny.

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New insight

1. Assembling the oxide phases of different Fermi levels, forming electrochemical cascades, leads to imposition of an electrical potential barrier across the junction that acts as an electrochemical pump of the light-induced electronic charge carriers.

2. The electrochemical couples (cascades) formed of the same oxide material, such as TiO2, allow efficient charge transfer across the interphase in the desired direction.

3. The electrochemical couples formed of pure and Cr-doped TiO2 exhibit a synergy effect after annealing in reducing conditions when the system is remote from the n-p transition point.

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Rahman, K.A., Atanacio, A., Ionescu, M. et al. Towards sustainable energy. Photocatalysis of Cr-doped TiO2: 4. Electrochemical coupling. Ionics 24, 873–881 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2305-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2305-5

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