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Vol. 10 No. 2 (2018)

Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting by g-C3N4/TiO2 Nanotube Array Heterostructures

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-018-0192-6
Changhai Liu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China
Fang Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China
Jin Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China
Ke Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China
Yangyang Qiu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China
Qian Liang
School of Petrochemical Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China
Zhidong Chen
School of Petrochemical Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Zhidong Chen

zdchen@cczu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 10 No. 2 (2018), Article Number: 37

Abstract

Well-ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTAs) decorated with graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) were fabricated by anodic oxidization and calcination process. First, TNTAs were prepared via the anodic oxidation of Ti foil in glycerol solution containing fluorinion and 20% deionized water. Subsequently, g-C3N4 film was hydrothermally grown on TNTAs via the hydrogen-bonded cyanuric acid melamine supramolecular complex. The results showed that g-C3N4 was successfully decorated on the TNTAs and the g-C3N4/TNTAs served as an efficient and stable photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting. The facile deposition method enables the fabrication of efficient and low-cost photoanodes for renewable energy applications.


Highlights:


1 Well-ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTAs) decorated with g-C3N4 were fabricated by anodic oxidization of titanium foil and calcination process.
2 The g-C3N4/TNTA heterojunction efficiently enhanced the photoelectrochemical activity for solar light-driven water splitting. Its photocurrent density and applied bias photon-to-current efficiency were, respectively, ~ 0.86 mA cm−2 and ~ 0.25%, about twofold higher compared with those of pristine TiO2 nanotube arrays.
3 The heterojunction expanded the optical absorption range of the TNTAs, accelerated the migration of carriers, and suppressed the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs via an efficient band alignment between TiO2 and g-C3N4.

Keywords

TiO2 nanotube arrays Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) Heterojunction Photoelectrochemical Water splitting
Liu, Changhai, Fang Wang, Jin Zhang, Ke Wang, Yangyang Qiu, Qian Liang, and Zhidong Chen. 2018. “Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting by G-C3N4/TiO2 Nanotube Array Heterostructures”. Nano-Micro Letters 10 (2):37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-018-0192-6.
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