Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 6, Issue 19, Pages 17053-17058Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/am504662w
Keywords
TiO2 nanotubes; charge recombination; surface passivation; atomic layer deposition; photoelectrochemical water splitting
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [61171043, 51077072, 11174308, 51102274]
- Shell Global Solutions International B.V. [PT31045]
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One-dimensional anodic titanium oxide nanotube (TONT) arrays provide a direct pathway for charge transport, and thus hold great potential as working electrodes for electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices. However, the prominent surface recombination due to the large amount surface defects hinders the performance improvement. In this work, the surface states of TONTs were passivated by conformal coating of high-quality Al2O3 onto the tubular structures using atomic layer deposition (ALD). The modified TONT films were subsequently employed as anodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The photocurrent (0.5 V vs Ag/AgCl) recorded under air mass 1.5 global illumination presented 0.8 times enhancement on the electrode with passivation coating. The reduction of surface recombination rate is responsible for the substantially improved performance, which is proposed to have originated from a decreased interface defect density in combination with a field-effect passivation induced by a negative fixed charge in the Al2O3 shells. These results not only provide a physical insight into the passivation effect, but also can be utilized as a guideline to design other energy conversion devices.
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