Cathodic shift of onset potential on TiO2 nanorod arrays with significantly enhanced visible light photoactivity via nitrogen/cobalt co-implantation* *Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11875211), the Major Science and Technology Program of Changsha, China (Grant No. kq1902046), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China.

Abstract

Despite anionic doping has been widely implemented to increase the visible light activity of TiO2, it often gives rise to a dramatical anodic shift in current onset potential. Herein, we show an effective method to achieve the huge cathodic shift of TiO2 photoanode with significantly enhanced visible light photo-electrochemical activity by nitrogen/cobalt co-implantation. The nitrogen/cobalt co-doped TiO2 nanorod arrays (N/Co-TiO2) exhibit a cathodic shift of 350 mV in onset potential relative to only nitrogen-doped TiO2 (N-TiO2). Moreover, the visible-light (λ > 420 nm) photocurrent density of N/Co-TiO2 reaches 0.46 mA/cm2, far exceeding 0.07 mA/cm2 in N-TiO2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Systematic characterization studies demonstrate that the enhanced photo-electrochemical performance can be attributed to the surface synergic sputtering of high-energy nitrogen/cobalt ions.