Enhancing the photoelectrochemical water splitting activity of rutile nanorods by removal of surface hydroxyl groups

A two-anode reduction technique to monitor the defect and dope the surface of TiO2 nanotube array as photo-anode for water splitting

“…As illustrated in Figure 6(b), the PL intensity of TAR-2 sample exhibits a remarkable decrease than that of the NT sample. The PL spectra is often used to evaluate the separation and utilization efficiency of the photo stimulated electrons (e -) and holes (h + ) 32,33 . The result indicates that after TAR treatment the separation and utilization efficiency of the eand h + pairs are effectively enhanced.…”

Mildly regulated intrinsic faradaic layer at the oxide/water interface for improved photoelectrochemical performance

“…20,22 However, other studies argue that the hydrated layer acts as recombination centers, which decreases the photoelectrochemical performance. [23][24][25] These inconsistent results possibly come from harsh post-treatment methods on photoelectrodes used in previous studies, which change not only the hydrated interface layer but also the bulk of photoelectrodes. In order to understand the real role of a hydrated interface layer, it is desirable to develop a new method that only changes the intrinsic hydrated interface layer of metal oxide.…”

A Nanoindentation Approach for Time-Dependent Evaluation of Surface Free Energy in Micro- and Nano-Structured Titanium

“…The surface free energy of Ti-HF in particular undergoes an initial rapid drop followed by stabilization, keeping the values reached after just one hour without substantial variation. As reported in the literature [ 34 ], the H 2 O 2 component of the piranha solution was shown to promote the removal from the surface of hydroxyl groups typically associated with the hydrophilic behavior of Ti/TiO 2 interfaces [ 35 ]. This phenomenon, combined with the, although limited, absorption of hydrocarbon, is responsible for the decrease in SFE, which, interestingly, settles at values also observed for the HF-treated surfaces ( Figure 3 b), in agreement with contact angle suggestion previously collected by our group [ 36 ].…”