Synthesis, Characterization of Hydrothermally Grown MWCNT-TiO2 Photoelectrodes and Their Visible Light Absorption Properties

We have synthesized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT)-TiO2 hybrid nanocoral thin films by hydrothermal route with titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) and functionalized MWCNT as the precursor. The new MWCNT-TiO2 hybrid nanocoral material was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Raman spectroscopy (FT-Raman), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) etc. The study indicates that the deposition process alters the typical structures of the nanocoral MWCNT-TiO2 hybrid material. The MWCNT-TiO2 hybrid film shows drastically changed morphology; i.e. the coral like morphology of TiO2 gets disturbed and transforms into compactly arranged spherical ball like particles with size ranging from similar to 550-650 nm. The MWCNT-TiO2 hybrid thin film exhibit high photocurrent density (0.693 mA/cm(2)) and yields overall conversion efficiency (eta) of 2.37%. (C) 2012 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.