Abstract

Photocatalytic activity of TiO2-supported TiN and Au nanoparticles towards methanol oxidation is investigated under both visible and UV light excitation. We demonstrate that the TiN/TiO2 photocatalyst performs better than the Au/TiO2 under visible excitation at potentials more positive than 0.1 V vs a Ag/AgCl reference electrode. Under UV excitation, photocurrent enhancement is observed for both the TiN/TiO2 and the Au/TiO2 photocatalysts in the entire potential region from -0.6 to 0.5 V, as compared to pure TiO2. The photocurrent enhancement under UV excitation was assigned to (1) better charge separation in the Au/TiO2 photocatalyst, and (2) generation of highly reactive holes due to interband transitions in TiN and Au nanoparticles.

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