Enhanced water splitting by FeTiOFTO photoanode with modified energy band structure

Abstract

The effect of TiOlayer applied to the conventional FeFTO photoanode to improve the photoelectrochemical performance was assessed from the viewpoint of the microstructure and energy band structure. Regardless of the location of the TiOlayer in the photoanodes, that is, FeTiOFTO or TiOFeFTO, high performance was obtained when α-Feand H-TiNT/anatase-TiOphases existed in the constituent Feand TiOlayers after optimized heat treatments. The presence of the Fenanoparticles with high uniformity in the each layer of the FeTiOFTO photoanode achieved by a simple dipping process seemed to positively affect the performance improvement by modifying the energy band structure to a more favorable one for efficient electrons transfer. Our current study suggests that the application of the TiOinterlayer, together with α-Fenanoparticles present in the each constituent layers, could significantly contribute to the performance improvement of the conventional Fephotoanode. © 2013 Eul Noh et al.