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Comparing photoelectrochemical water oxidation, recombination kinetics and charge trapping in the three polymorphs of TiO2

Moss B 1 , Lim KK 2 , Beltram A 3 , Moniz S 4 , Tang J 4 , Fornasiero P 3 Show all authors , Barnes P 1 , Durrant J 1 , Kafizas A 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 Imperial College London, Department of Chemistry, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
  • 2 Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, Department of Mathematics, Kampus Utama, Jalan Genting Kelang, 53300, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and ICCOM Trieste Research Unit, University of Trieste, via L. Giorgieri 1, 34127, Trieste, Italy
  • 4 University College London, Department of Chemistry, Gower Street, London, WC1H 0AJ, UK
  • 5 Imperial College London, Department of Chemistry, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. [email protected]
Sci Rep, 2017 06 07;7(1):2938.
PMID: 28592816 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03065-5

Abstract

In this article we present the first comparative study of the transient decay dynamics of photo-generated charges for the three polymorphs of TiO2. To our knowledge, this is the first such study of the brookite phase of TiO2 over timescales relevant to the kinetics of water splitting. We find that the behavior of brookite, both in the dynamics of relaxation of photo-generated charges and in energetic distribution, is similar to the anatase phase of TiO2. Moreover, links between the rate of recombination of charge carriers, their energetic distribution and the mode of transport are made in light of our findings and used to account for the differences in water splitting efficiency observed across the three polymorphs.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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