TiO₂ Nanotubes for Solar Water Splitting: Vacuum Annealing and Zr Doping Enhance Water Oxidation Kinetics.

ABSTRACT: Herein, we report the cooperative effect of Zr doping and vacuum annealing on the carrier dynamics and interfacial kinetics of anodized TiO₂ nanotubes for light-driven water oxidation. After evaluation of different Zr loads and different annealing conditions, it was found that both Zr doping and vacuum annealing lead to a significantly enhanced light harvesting efficiency and photoelectrochemical performance. The substitution of Zr⁴⁺ by Ti⁴⁺ species leads to a higher density of surface defects such as oxygen vacancies, facilitating electron trapping on Zr⁴⁺, which reduced the charge recombination and hence boosted the charge transfer kinetics. More importantly, vacuum annealing promoted the presence of surface defects. Furthermore, the mechanisti

SUBMITTER: Shaddad MN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6777075 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature