Ultrathin Silicon Oxide Film‐Induced Enhancement of Charge Separation and Transport of Nanostructured Titanium(IV) Oxide Photoelectrode

Abstract

The development of nanostructured semiconductor electrodes represented by a mesoporous TiO2 nanocrystalline (mp-TiO2 ) film is currently bringing great progresses in photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices for solar-to-electricity and solar-to-chemical conversion. Two serious losses can occur in PEC devices: 1) recombination between the conduction band (CB) electrons and valence band (VB) holes in the bulk and at the surface and 2) back reaction or electron trapping by oxidant in the electrolyte solution during transport to the electron-collecting electrode. Thus, the major challenge in common with the nanostructured semiconductor photoanodes is to achieve efficient charge separation and electron transport. In this study, an ultrathin SiOx layer was formed on both the external and the internal surface of mp-TiO2 using an original chemisorption-calcination technique employing 1,3,5,7-tetramethyltetrasiloxane as a starting material. The SiOx surface modification of the mp-TiO2 photoanode drastically prolongs the mean lifetime of CB-electrons in TiO2 because of enhanced charge separation and electron transport by the negative charge applied in aqueous electrolyte solution. We have demonstrated that the performance of a one-compartment H2 O2 -photofuel cell using mp-TiO2 as the photoanode is greatly boosted by the surface modification with the SiOx layer. We anticipate that this methodology is widely applicable to nanostructured metal oxide semiconductor electrodes, contributing to the improvement in the performance of PEC devices.