Photoelectrochemical Properties and Its Application of Nano-TiO2/ Boron-doped Diamond Heterojunction Electrode Material

Abstract

Like titanium dioxide (TiO2), boron-doped diamond (BDD) is one of the most popular functional materials in recent years. In this work, TiO2/BDD heterojunction electrodes were prepared by dip-coating TiO2 nanoparticles onto BDD electrodes. XRD patterns of these electrodes suggest that the mixed-phase TiO2/BDD heterojunction electrode with anatase and rutile can be obtained at 700 ºC, named as mixed-phase TiO2/BDD electrode. However, the TiO2/BDD heterojunction electrode prepared at 450 ºC has only anatase phase TiO2, named as pure-anatase TiO2/BDD electrode. SEM images indicate that TiO2 nanoparticles with ca. 20 nm were both immobilized continuously and uniformly onto the BDD electrode whether at 700 ºC or 450 ºC. The photoelectrocatalytic activity of mixed-phase TiO2/BDD electrode is 3-fold of that obtained at pure-anatase TiO2/BDD electrode, indicating that mixed-phase TiO2/BDD electrode is more effective to use to degrade and/or detect the organic compounds. Comparing with the TiO2/ITO electrode, the TiO2/BDD electrode presents an excellent chemical stability. The detection of glucose and KHP in the solution indicates that the steady-state net photocurrent in the range of concentration monitored presents superiorly linear relationship to the concentration of glucose and KHP. Therefore, the mixed-phase TiO2/BDD electrode may be used as a high effective sensing material for the detection of organic compounds.

Nanostructured electrodes for electrocatalytic advanced oxidation processes: From materials preparation to mechanisms understanding and wastewater treatment applications

“…When boron (2×10 21 cm -3 )/carbon ((2×10 19 cm -3 ))_ratio in gas phase 1000 ppm and covered 500 nm thick TiO2 layer, this nanostructure of p-n junction was beneficial to the hole injection [210]. The photoelectrocatalytic activity of mixed-phase TiO2/BDD electrode in 700 ºC was 3-fold of that obtained at pure anatase TiO2/BDD electrode in 450 ºC, which was caused by the improvement of the active area [211]. When composite TiO2/BDD electrode was prepared via electrophoretically deposited method, the thickness of TiO2 layer on the BDD surface was 14.68 μm, exhibiting great ability and stability [212].…”

Photoelectrocatalytic activity of an ordered and vertically aligned TiO2 nanorod array/BDD heterojunction electrode

“…It is known that TiO 2 exhibits n-type semiconductor properties, which can composite with a p-type semiconductor to form a p-n type heterojunction [18,22]. The electric field integrally formed at the heterojunction interface can effectively separate the photoelectrons/holes in TiO 2 [23][24][25][26]. Therefore, a p-type substrate may be used to form a p-n type heterojunction.…”

“…Boron-doped diamond (BDD) is an excellent p-type semiconductor because of its many outstanding properties such as very low background current, wide working potential window, resilient mechanical strength, robust resistance against corrosion, and long term durability and stability [27][28][29][30]. Our group and others have reported the preparation of TiO 2 nanoparticle film/BDD heterojunctions and their application [22,23,25,27,[31][32][33][34]. The combination of one-dimensional vertically aligned TiO 2 nanostructures (e.g.…”

Effects of Calcination Temperature on Properties of Boron Doped TiO2 Photocatalyst Prepared Using Solvothermal Method

“…A variety of nonmetal ions such as N 3,4 , C 5 , S 6 and B 7 has been explored to promote separation of photogenerated charges in TiO 2 . Due to the electron deficiency structure of boron, boron doped TiO 2 has already attracted much attention and researches have increasingly focused on the development of boron doped TiO 2 systems in recent years 8 .…”