Photoanodic reactions occurring at nanostructured titanium dioxide films

The reasons of unusually large differences observed in photocurrent efficiencies for the oxidation of various organic and inorganic substrates at nanostructured TiO2 photoelectrodes are discussed. The '' redox cycling '', where a product of the hole transfer acts, in turn, as scavenger for the photogenerated electrons, appears as a frequent cause of weak photocurrents. Such a recombination mechanism operates not only under open-circuit conditions but also in the presence of large anodic bias applied to the conducting support of the TiO2 electrode. Experiments conducted in the presence of both, an efficient hole scavenger, formate ion, and an electron acceptor, methyl viologen dication, showed that, in a major part of the anodically polarized nanostructured TiO2 film, the quasi-Fermi level of electrons remains actually close to the conduction band edge potential. Importantly, addition to the solution of an electron acceptor causes large drop of the photocurrent both under weak and intense UV illumination generated by an argon-ion laser. On the other hand, a large number of organic molecules undergoing essentially irreversible photooxidation (e.g., to form CO2 and H2O) generate high photocurrents at the nanostructured TiO2 electrodes. Such reactions, when occurring in the presence of large concentrations of the reactants, may involve direct hole transfer. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.