Arrays of templated TiO₂nanofibres as improved photoanodes for water splitting under visible light

Abstract

Arrays of TiO2 nanofibres (NFs) were successfully prepared by template sol–gel synthesis, using track-etched polycarbonate membranes as structure directing agent. The control of the sol–gel kinetic was crucial in order to homogeneously fill the pores with a continuous framework. For this reason acetylacetone was added to the sol–gel mixture as chelating agent. The band edge positions of TiO2 NFs were determined by a Mott–Schottky plot and diffuse reflectance analysis. The results support the presence of trace dopants which can act favorably with respect to the photoelectrochemical properties. The TiO2 NFs array showed enhanced photoelectrochemical activity both under UV light and visible light when used as photoanodes for the water splitting reaction.

Arrays of TiO2 Nanowires as Photoelectrochemical Sensors for Hydrazine Detection

“…Moreover, NW based electrodes own a larger surface area with respect to planar electrodes, increasing the area of the electrolyte/semiconductor interface and the overall photoelectrochemical reaction rate [21]. On this basis we used a recently developed sol-gel template method [22] for the synthesis of TiO2NWs which were used for the fabrication of a photoelectrochemical sensor. The sensor gave promising results in the photoelectrochemical determination of hydrazine in water.…”

“…The procedure for the sol-gel template synthesis of TiO2NW has been already presented in a previous work [22] and therefore it will be discussed here only briefly.…”

“…After removing the template, the array was immobilized on the surface of the FTO electrode and heated at 450 °C for three hours. The thermal treatment is important in order to remove the organic ligand still present in the TiO2 framework and to induce the crystallization of amorphous TiO2 to anatase [22], which is the most photoactive crystal habit [23]. Further information concerning the characterization of the TiO2NWA can be found in a recent publication [22].…”

Nanoelectrode Ensembles Consisting of Carbon Nanotubes

“…NEAs and NEEs can be fabricated from various materials such as gold [10,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], platinum [16], TiO 2 [20,21], ZnO [22,23], CeO 2 [24], nickel [25], boron-doped diamond [26], carbon fibers [27,28], SiO 2 with a Ti/Pt coating [29], and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). NEAs and NEEs are typically fabricated using one of two methods.…”

ZnO Nanowire Networks as Photoanode Model Systems for Photoelectrochemical Applications

“…In particular, the electrodeposition of ZnO nanowires in polymer etched ion-track templates has been reported by several authors employing various electrolytes [ 30 , 31 , 32 ]. TiO 2 nanowires have been also synthesized by applying a combination of sol-gel methods and polymer track-etched membranes [ 33 ]. The nanowires fabricated using this technique typically exhibit a high aspect ratio.…”