Photoelectrochemical properties of anatase TiO2 nanostructures prepared by hydrothermal method: Effect of illumination and external bias on charge transport

A systematic study of photoelectrochemical properties in terms of carrier transport was conducted for TiO2 nanostructure films fabricated on Ti foil at different temperatures (130 °C–210 °C) through alkaline hydrothermal technique, along with the morphological, structural, and optical properties. For samples, the morphology transformed from nanosheets to nanowires, the phase converted from bi-phase of brookite and anatase to pure anatase along with the reduction in the amount of oxygen vacancies as temperature increases. Among them, the dark blue bi-phased TiO2 (brookite and anatase) prepared at 130 °C of hydrothermal treatment (TiO2-130) with nanosheets morphology displayed the optimum photoelectrochemical performance with the highest photocurrent density of 265 μA/cm2 at 1 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), largest carrier density of 1.809 × 1019cm−3 and narrowest space charge region of 11.73 nm. Besides, the large reduction in charge transfer resistance and the width of space charge region caused by simulated solar illumination facilitate the charge transport in photoelectrode especially the TiO2-130 with the largest reduction, indicating the great influence of illumination on carrier dynamics. Moreover, the external bias caused the reduction of resistance under irradiation, the increase in the resistance in the dark. Importantly, the TiO2-210 showed p-type conductivity under illumination inferred from the negative slope of Mott-Schottky plots, which is first observed and further confirm the influence of light on the charge transfer process.