Noble-Metal-Free Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Activity -Defect Engineering in TiO2 Nanotubes
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2018-04-13 |
| Journal | ECS Meeting Abstracts |
| Authors | Xuemei Zhou, Patrik Schmuki |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāThe use of TiO 2 photoelectrodes (or TiO 2 suspensions) to produce hydrogen from various electrolytes (with or without sacrificial agents) has been highly investigated over the past decades and still remains a most investigated topic. 1 The advantage of anodic TiO 2 nanotubes (NTs) is not only that they provide a one dimensional charge-transfer path, but also they are back-contacted on metal substrate that can be used as electrodes directly. 2 Pathways to create noble-metal-free H 2 evolution activity on TiO 2 NTs are not only of considerable scientific but also of high economic interest. 3-4 Here we introduce an efficient way to introduce a sub-surface configuration of a broad range of lattice defects (namely vacancy/interstitial pairs) using high energy ion implantation. 5 In this study, we report defect containing TiO 2 NTs that strongly acts as photo co-catalysts. This catalyst is obtained by low-dose nitrogen ion-implantation that can be tuned to obtain a highly defined ion and defect distribution within the TiO 2 NT substrate. A particular advantage of creating these defect centers by N-implantation is that the active centers can be placed as a coherent layer at a defined sub-surface location and allow surface patterning. 6 The catalysts presented here show considerable photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution under solar light illumination in the absence of noble metal or external bias. These results provide a new platform for TiO 2 based photo co-catalysts. References Fujishima and K. Honda, Nature, 1972, 238, 37-38. X. Zhou, N. T. Nguyen, S. Ćzkan, P. Schmuki, Electrochem. Comm., 2014(46,) 157-162. Zhou, N. Liu and P. Schmuki, Electrochem. Commun., 2014 (49), 60-64. N Liu, V. HƤublein, X. Zhou, U. Venkatesan, M. Hartmann, M. MaÄkoviÄ, T. Nakajima, E. Spiecker, A. Osvet, L. Frey, and P. Schmuki, Nano Lett., 2015, 15 (10), 6815-6820. Zhou, V. HƤublein, N. Liu, N. T. Nguyen, E. M. Zolnhofer, H. Tsuchiya, M. S. Killian, K. Meyer, L. Frey, P. Schmuki, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 3763-3767. X. Zhou, N. Liu, P. Schmuki, ACS Cat., 2017, 7, 3210-3235.