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TiO2 nanotube arrays: a study on the surface electrochemical reactions during the photoelectrochemical process

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Abstract

The surface electrochemical reactions of TiO2 nanotube arrays (NTAs) corresponding to different active species of TiO2 NTAs (·OH, h+, and ·O2 −) play key roles during the photoelectrochemical process. Effect of the active species and surface electrochemical reactions are studied by adding capture agents of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) for ·OH, ammonium oxalate ((NH4)2C2O2) for h+, and benzoquinone (BQ) for ·O2 − radicals. The changes of photocurrent with addition of capture agents confirm the existence of ·OH, h+, and ·O2 − during photoelectrochemical process. IPA and (NH4)2C2O2 additions are found to enhance the photocurrent by accelerating the consumption velocity of h+ indirectly and directly and restricting the chargers recombination. BQ can decrease the photocurrent stepwise to 0 due to the indirect consumption of e− on surface of TiO2 NTAs. The consumption of h+ by forming ·OH is 38% that of the whole consumption of h+. The ratio of chargers recombination is higher than 80.8% that of the whole photogenerated chargers.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Nature Science Foundation of China (51102071, 51172059 and 51272063), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2013HGQC0005), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2014CB660815), and Nature Science Foundation of Anhui Province (1408085QE86, 1608085QE105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Yajun Pang, Guangqing Xu, Chengkong Fan, Jun Lv, Yongqiang Qin, Yong Zhang & Yucheng Wu

  2. Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials and Devices, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Guangqing Xu, Jun Lv, Yongqiang Qin, Yong Zhang & Yucheng Wu

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  1. Yajun Pang
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  2. Guangqing Xu
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  4. Jun Lv
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  5. Yongqiang Qin
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  7. Yucheng Wu
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Correspondence to Guangqing Xu or Yucheng Wu.

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Pang, Y., Xu, G., Fan, C. et al. TiO2 nanotube arrays: a study on the surface electrochemical reactions during the photoelectrochemical process. J Solid State Electrochem 21, 987–993 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3450-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3450-x

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