Abstract
Charge separation and oxidation kinetics are both critical for solar energy conversion in photoelectrochemical cell, but it is difficult to enhance simultaneously by a semiconductor. Here, the hydrogenated TiO2 loaded by Pt nanoparticles with improved charge separation and oxidation kinetics photoanodes are developed, characterized, and tested. The TiO2 nanotubes are prepared by hydrothermal of Ti foils and used as substrates for hydrogenation and loaded by Pt through photodeposition. Ascribe to the synergetic of hydroxylated surface and Pt nanoparticles, the photocurrent of Pt/H:TiO2 is enhanced from 0.052 (TiO2) to 0.098 mA/cm2 at 1.0 V versus RHE for water oxidation and almost increased 1.3 times for sulfite oxidation. Further, the electrons’ transport time has been reduced 20%, and the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency for Pt/H:TiO2 has been increased by 2.5-fold for water oxidation under 350 nm illumination at 1.0 V versus RHE. The charge separation and oxidation kinetics efficiencies of Pt/H:TiO2 are improved to 62.2 and 39.9% compared with pristine TiO2 (54.2 and 27.6%) at 1.0 V versus RHE. The origin of the enhanced photoelectrochemical performances for Pt/H:TiO2 is due to the hydroxylated surface and the absorption of plasmon resonance by Pt nanoparticles.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cai J, Wu M, Wang Y, Zhang H, Meng M, Tian Y, Li X, Zhang J, Zheng L, Gong J (2017) Synergetic enhancement of light harvesting and charge separation over surface-disorder-engineered TiO2 photonic crystals. Chem 2:877–892
Naldoni A, Allieta M, Santangelo S, Marelli M, Fabbri F, Cappelli S, Bianchi CL, Psaro R, Santo VD (2012) Effect of nature and location of defects on bandgap narrowing in black TiO2 nanoparticles. J Am Chem Soc 134:7600–7603
Luo JS, Im JH, Mayer MT, Schreier M, Nazeeruddin MK, Park NG, Tilley SD, Fan HJ, Grätzel M (2014) Water photolysis at 12.3% efficiency via perovskite photovoltaics and Earth-abundant catalysts. Science 345:1593–1596
Lang X, Chen X, Zhao J (2014) Heterogeneous visible light photocatalysis for selective organic transformations. Chem Soc Rev 43:473–486
Tada H, Negishi R, Naya SI, Kobayashi H (2017) Multi-electron oxygen reduction by a hybrid visible-light-photocatalyst consisting of metal-oxide semiconductor and self-assembled biomimetic complex. Angew Chem 129:10483–10487
Natarajan K, Natarajan TS, Kureshy RI, Bajaj HC, Joc WK, Tayade RJ (2015) Photocatalytic H2 production using semiconductor nanomaterials via water splitting-an overview. Adv Mater Res 1116:130–156
Pendlebury SR, Cowan AJ, Barroso M, Sivula K, Ye J, Grätzel M, Klug DR, Tang J, Durrant JR (2012) Correlating long-lived photogenerated hole populations with photocurrent densities in hematite water oxidation photoanodes. Energy Environ Sci 5:6304–6312
Kim TW, Ping Y, Galli GA, Choi KS (2015) Simultaneous enhancements in photon absorption and charge transport of bismuth vanadate photoanodes for solar water splitting. Nat Commun 6:8769
Rao PM, Cai L, Liu C, Cho IS, Lee CH, Weisse JM, Yang P, Zheng X (2014) Simultaneously efficient light absorption and charge separation in WO3/BiVO4 core/shell nanowire photoanode for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. Nano Lett 14:1099–1105
Chang X, Wang T, Zhang P, Zhang J, Li A, Gong J (2015) Enhanced surface reaction kinetics and charge separation of p–n heterojunction Co3O4/BiVO4 photoanodes. J Am Chem Soc 137:8356–8359
Park Y, McDonald KJ, Choi KS (2013) Progress in bismuth vanadate photoanodes for use in solar water oxidation. Chem Soc Rev 42:2321–2337
Song J, Zheng M, Yuan X, Li Q, Wang F, Ma L, You Y, Liu S, Liu P, Jiang D, Ma L, Shen W (2017) Electrochemically induced Ti3+ self-doping of TiO2 nanotube arrays for improved photoelectrochemical water splitting. J Mater Sci 52:6976–6986. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-0930-z
Kalisz M, Grobelny M, Kaczmarek D, Domaradzki J, Mazur M, Wojcieszak D (2017) Comparison of structural, mechanical and corrosion properties of TiO2–WO3 mixed oxide films deposited on TiAlV surface by electron beam evaporation. Appl Surf Sci 421:185–190
Wang Z, Yang C, Lin T, Yin H, Chen P, Wan D, Xu F, Huang F, Lin J, Xie X, Jiang M (2013) H-doped black titania with very high solar absorption and excellent photocatalysis enhanced by localized surface plasmon resonance. Adv Funct Mater 23:5444–5450
Wan S, Zhong Q, Ou M, Zhang S (2017) Synthesis and characterization of direct Z-scheme Bi2MoO6/ZnIn2S4 composite photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic oxidation of NO under visible light. J Mater Sci 52:11453–11466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1283-3
Tanaka A, Teramura K, Hosokawa S, Kominami H, Tanaka T (2017) Visible light-induced water splitting in an aqueous suspension of a plasmonic Au/TiO2 photocatalyst with metal co-catalysts. Chem Sci 8:2574–2580
Yu C, Zhou W, Zhu L, Li G, Yang K, Jin R (2016) Integrating plasmonic Au nanorods with dendritic like α-Bi2O3/Bi2O2CO3 heterostructures for superior visible-light-driven photocatalysis. Appl Catal B Environ 184:1–11
Zhao WW, Liu Z, Shan S, Zhang WW, Wang J, Ma ZY, Xu JJ, Chen HY (2014) Bismuthoxyiodide nanoflakes/titania nanotubes arrayed pn heterojunction and its application for photoelectrochemical bioanalysis. Sci Rep 4:4426
Kumar D, Lee A, Lee T, Lim M, Lim DK (2016) Ultrafast and efficient transport of hot plasmonic electrons by graphene for Pt free, highly efficient visible-light responsive photocatalyst. Nano Lett 16:1760–1767
Zhang N, Han C, Xu YJ, Foley JJ IV, Zhang D, Codrington J, Gray SK, Sun Y (2016) Near-field dielectric scattering promotes optical absorption by platinum nanoparticles. Nat Photon 10:473–482
Liu P, Zhao Y, Qin R, Mo S, Chen G, Gu L, Chevrier DM, Zhang P, Guo Q, Zang D, Wu B, Fu G, Zheng N (2016) Photochemical route for synthesizing atomically dispersed palladium catalysts. Science 352:797–800
Zhou M, Wang H, Vara M, Hood ZD, Luo M, Yang TH, Bao S, Chi M, Xiao P, Zhang Y, Xia Y (2016) Quantitative analysis of the reduction kinetics responsible for the one-pot synthesis of Pd–Pt bimetallic nanocrystals with different structures. J Am Chem Soc 138:12263–12270
Roy N, Leung KT, Pradhan D (2015) Nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide based Pt–TiO2 nanocomposites for enhanced hydrogen evolution. J Phys Chem C 119:19117–19125
Khalily MA, Eren H, Akbayrak S, Susapto HH, Biyikli N, Özkar S, Guler MO (2016) Facile synthesis of three-dimensional Pt–TiO2 nano-networks: a highly active catalyst for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia–borane. Angew Chem 128:12445–12449
Yan J, Wu S, Zhai X, Gao X, Li X (2017) Si microwire array photoelectrochemical cells: stabilized and improved performances with surface modification of Pt nanoparticles and TiO2 ultrathin film. J Power Sour 342:460–466
Chang TY, Tanaka Y, Ishikawa R, Toyoura K, Matsunaga K, Ikuhara Y, Shibata N (2014) Direct imaging of Pt single atoms adsorbed on TiO2 (110) surfaces. Nano Lett 14:134–138
Liu E, Kang L, Yang Y, Sun T, Hu X, Zhu C, Liu H, Wang Q, Li X, Fan J (2014) Plasmonic Ag deposited TiO2 nano-sheet film for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production by water splitting. Nanotechnology 25:165401
Haselmann GM, Eder D (2017) Early-stage deactivation of Pt-loaded TiO2 using in situ photodeposition during photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. ACS Catal 7:4668–4675
Wang G, Wang H, Ling Y, Tang Y, Yang X, Fitzmorris RC, Wang C, Zhang JZ, Li Y (2011) Hydrogen-treated TiO2 nanowire arrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Nano Lett 11:3026–3033
Wang Z, Yang C, Lin T, Yin H, Chen P, Wan D, Xu F, Huang F, Lin J, Xie X, Jiang M (2013) Visible-light photocatalytic, solar thermal and photoelectrochemical properties of aluminium-reduced black titania. Energy Environ Sci 6:3007–3014
Feng N, Wang Q, Zheng A, Zhang Z, Fan J, Liu SB, Amoureux JP, Deng F (2013) Understanding the high photocatalytic activity of (B, Ag)-codoped TiO2 under solar-light irradiation with XPS, solid-state NMR, and DFT calculations. J Am Chem Soc 135:1607–1616
Abdi FF, Han L, Smets AH, Zeman M, Dam B, Van De Krol R (2013) Efficient solar water splitting by enhanced charge separation in a bismuth vanadate-silicon tandem photoelectrode. Nat Commun 4:2195
He H, Berglund SP, Rettie AJ, Chemelewski WD, Xiao P, Zhang Y, Mullins CB (2014) Synthesis of BiVO4 nanoflake array films for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. J Mater Chem A 2:9371–9379
Tang H, Prasad K, Sanjines R, Schmid PE, Levy F (1994) Electrical and optical properties of TiO2 anatase thin films. J Appl Phys 75:2042–2047
Klahr B, Gimenez S, Fabregat-Santiago F, Hamann T, Bisquert J (2012) Water oxidation at hematite photoelectrodes: the role of surface states. J Am Chem Soc 134:4294–4302
Klotz D, Ellis DS, Dotan H, Rothschild A (2016) Empirical in operando analysis of the charge carrier dynamics in hematite photoanodes by PEIS, IMPS and IMVS. Phys Chem Chem Phys 18:3438–23457
Shi Y, Zhu C, Wang L, Li W, Cheng C, Ho KM, Fung KK, Wang N (2012) Optimizing nanosheet-based ZnO hierarchical structure through ultrasonic-assisted precipitation for remarkable photovoltaic enhancement in quasi-solid dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Chem 22:13097–13103
Hejazi S, Nguyen NT, Mazare A, Schmuki P (2017) Aminated TiO2 nanotubes as a photoelectrochemical water splitting photoanode. Catal Today 281:189–197
Sánchez-Tovar R, Blasco-Tamarit E, Fernández-Domene RM, Lucas-Granados B, García-Antón J (2017) Should TiO2 nanostructures doped with Li+ be used as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting applications. J Catal 349:41–52
Wu MC, Chen CH, Huang WK, Hsiao KC, Lin TH, Chan SH, Wu PY, Lu CF, Chang YH, Lin TF, Hsu KH, Hsu JF, Lee KM, Shyue JJ, Kordás K, Su WF (2017) Improved solar-driven photocatalytic performance of highly crystalline hydrogenated TiO2 nanofibers with core-shell structure. Sci Rep 7:40896
Tiep NH, Ku Z, Fan HJ (2016) Recent advances in improving the stability of perovskite solar cells. Adv Energy Mater 6:1501420
Dong C, Xing M, Zhang J (2016) Double-cocatalysts promote charge separation efficiency in CO2 photoreduction: spatial location matters. Mater Horiz 3:608–612
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the fundamental research funds for the Central Universities (Project No. 106112015CDJZR305501).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xiong, Y., Yang, L., Xiao, P. et al. Enhanced charge separation and oxidation kinetics by loading Pt nanoparticles with hydrogenated TiO2 nanotubes. J Mater Sci 53, 7703–7714 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2079-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2079-9