Enhanced electrochemical water splitting activity in annealed TiO2 nanoparticles of photoanode
Abstract In this paper, we present the electrochemical water splitting characteristics of TiO2/FTO electrodes via spin-coating method. By using thermal annealing approach, the TiO2 nanoparticle (P25) was modified with a more active photocatalyst. The annealed TiO2 nanoparticle-based photoanode in vacuum shows photocurrent density of 0.27 mA/cm2 and photoconversion efficiency of (η = 0.22%) at potential of 0.4 V (vs. RHE), which are higher than those of annealed TiO2 nanoparticle-based electrode in air. The improved photoelectrochemical property is attributed to high oxygen vacancy density with more active sides, while TiO2 nanoparticle was annealed in vacuum (∼10−1 torr) with oxide concentration conditions. From this finding, we propose that a thermal annealing process might serve as an approach for fabricating the photoanodes of TiO2-based materials consisting of much active photocatalyst
