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Electroreduction as a viable strategy to obtain TiO2 nanotube films with preferred anatase crystal orientation and its impact on photoelectrochemical performance

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Abstract

Preferential orientation of anatase crystals in TiO2 nanotube (TNT) films was induced through an electroreduction pre-treatment prior to annealing at 450 °C in atmospheric air. This pre-treatment consisted of applying a cathodic potential between − 1 and −6 V vs. SCE, using either continuous or pulsed form. Relative to TNTs without pre-treatment, XRD characterization revealed that the ratio of intensities for anatase planes (004) and (101), I(004)/I(101), increased around five times when pulsed electroreduction was carried out at − 3 V versus SCE in a 0.1 M Na2SO4 solution, compared to that obtained without the pre-treatment. Since additional ions were not included in the electrolyte, this result demonstrated that pulsed electroreduction could be used as a simple strategy to preferentially orient TiO2 anatase crystals. However, it was also found that the induction of a preferred crystal orientation in the [001] direction negatively affected TNT photoelectrochemical performance. This response could be attributed to changes induced on the film during the electroreduction process, since electrochemical characterization showed that the electrical and semiconducting properties of the TNTs were drastically modified after pre-treatment. Therefore, these findings reveal that TNT preferential orientation in the [001] direction is not necessarily associated with improved photoelectrochemical behavior and that TNT photoresponse is strongly influenced by the methodology used to achieve such crystalline orientation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to project CONACYT-México (270810) for the financial support. The authors thank LDRX (T 128) UAM-I for the XRD measurements. The authors thank the Laboratorio Nacional de Conversión y Almacenamiento de Energía (LNCAE) for some of the infrastructure required for material characterization.

Funding

Harrison Sierra-Uribe would like to thank Colciencias and Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Extensión from Universidad Industrial de Santander for the financial support provided through the “Jóvenes Investigadores” fellowship (Convocatoria No.706, 2015).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Harrison Sierra-Uribe, J. Edgar Carrera-Crespo, Arely Cano, Elcy María Córdoba-Tuta, Ignacio González, and Próspero Acevedo-Peña contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación en Desarrollo y Tecnología de Nuevos Materiales, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia

    Harrison Sierra-Uribe & Elcy María Córdoba-Tuta

  2. Departamento de Química, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Av. San Rafael Atlixco, No. 186, C.P. 09340, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Harrison Sierra-Uribe & Ignacio González

  3. Departamento de Ecomateriales y Energía, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Av. Pedro de Alba s/n, C.P. 66400, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    J. Edgar Carrera-Crespo

  4. Centro de Investigación en Ciencia Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada-Unidad Legaria, IPN, 11500, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Arely Cano

  5. CONACyT-Centro de Investigación en Ciencia Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada-Unidad Legaria, IPN, 11500, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Próspero Acevedo-Peña

Authors
  1. Harrison Sierra-Uribe
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Correspondence to Próspero Acevedo-Peña.

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Sierra-Uribe, H., Carrera-Crespo, J.E., Cano, A. et al. Electroreduction as a viable strategy to obtain TiO2 nanotube films with preferred anatase crystal orientation and its impact on photoelectrochemical performance. J Solid State Electrochem 22, 1881–1891 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-018-3890-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-018-3890-6

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