Role of Adsorbed Water on Charge Carrier Dynamics in Photoexcited TiO₂.

ABSTRACT: Overall photocatalytic water splitting is one of the most sought after processes for sustainable solar-to-chemical energy conversion. The efficiency of this process strongly depends on charge carrier recombination and interaction with surface adsorbates at different time scales. Here, we investigated how hydration of TiO₂ P25 affects dynamics of photogenerated electrons at the millisecond to minute time scale characteristic for chemical reactions. We used rapid scan diffuse-reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). The decay of photogenerated electron absorption was substantially slower in the presence of associated water. For hydrated samples, the charge carrier recombination rates followed an Arrhenius-type behavior in the temperature range of 273-423 K; th

SUBMITTER: Litke A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5388900 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature