Water-Mediated Promotion of Dye Sensitization of TiO2 under Visible Light

Preadsorbed water along with surrounding bulk water significantly modulates the surface electronic structure of TiO2, switches the adsorption mode of dyes, and promotes dye sensitization of TiO2 under visible-light irradiation. This opens a door toward facile improvement in the efficiency of photodegradation of dyes and dye-sensitized solar cells under visible-light irradiation without any complicated and expensive surface modulation.