Design of TiO 2 -based nanocomposite via two-step method on Al- and Fe-doped Ti 3 SiC 2 ceramic for photoelectrode

Photocapacitors gain increasing attention due to their capability of integrating conversion and storage of solar energy which can realize miniaturization and multi-functionalization of the device. In this work, a photoresponsible and reliable electrode consisting of Al- and Fe-doped TiO 2 (Al, Fe–TiO 2 ), SiO 2 and C with vertically aligned nanopores structure is developed on a pentabasic ceramic substrate of Al- and Fe-doped Ti 3 SiC 2 (Al, Fe–TSC) via sintering and anodizing in sequence. The resulting electrode demonstrates good electrochemical performance with a specific capacitance of 12.03 mF cm −2 at the scan rate of 100 mV s −1 and sustains a stability of 93% after 1000 cycles. Moreover, it exhibits a high solar energy conversion and storage capacity up to 59 μA cm −2 and 4.33 mF cm −2 under visible light irradiation indicating that it has the potential to be used as a photocapacitor. The exploited approach in this work offers an alternative strategy for designing miniaturized difunctional photoelectrode ingredients with ordered periodic nanostructure to promote solar harvesting and utilizing of the photocapacitor.