Titanium dioxide/electrolyte solution interface:: Electron transfer phenomena

Electron transfer between a titanium dioxide/electrolyte solution interface has been studied. As found by other researchers of similar interfaces (TiO2- and ZnO-electrolyte solution), a slow consumption of OH- ions takes place in this type of interface. A theoretical model has been developed for calculating the change in the Fermi energy of both electrolyte solution and semiconductor, showing that ion consumption from the solution is favoured by the decrease of the difference between their Fermi energies. A kinetic constant (rt) is found to characterise the consumption process, its value increasing with electrolyte and semiconductor mass concentrations. Furthermore, this process may be used to estimate the point of zero charge of a titanium dioxide colloidal dispersion. (C) 2000 Academic Press.