Highly efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting by a novel nanocomposite titania photoanode

Abstract

The photoelectrochemical water splitting into hydrogen and oxygen using solar light is a promising method to provide clean energy carriers in the future. Here, we report a simple but efficient way to fabricate iron-decorated tungsten–titania nanotube photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting. These photoanodes were fabricated through electrochemical anodising in combination with chemical bath deposition. The morphology, crystal phase, chemical composition and photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples were evaluated using various characterisation techniques. Results showed that these films have nanotubular morphology and iron was successfully anchored on tungsten–titania nanotubes, which enhanced the photocatalytic activity of these samples. Iron-decorated photoanodes exhibited an excellent and stable photocatalytic activity in the solar water splitting compared to the unmodified photoanode. After irradiation under xenon light illumination for 120 min, the total amount of hydrogen evolved on the iron-decorated sample was approximately 3.5 times higher than that on the unmodified sample and 6.3 times higher than that on bare titania.