Activation effect of silver nanoparticles on the photoelectrochemical performance of mesoporous TiO2 nanospheres photoanodes for water oxidation reaction

Abstract

This work reports the photodeposition of Ag nanoparticles onto mesoporous TiO2 (m-TiO2) pre-formed by the evaporation-induced self-assembly method. Photoanodes of Ag/m-TiO2 assembled by electrophoretic disclose a superior photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance for water oxidation reaction related to m-TiO2. The photoanodes physicochemical investigations witness the even arrangement of m-TiO2 nanospheres particles over the substrates. The PEC study displays a steady photocurrent density of 1 mAcm−2 at −1.0 V vs SCE was attained for Ag/m-TiO2 photoanodes in visible light illumination and it is nearly twofold enhancements in comparison with m-TiO2 photoanodes. The observed superior PEC nature was attributed to the reduced band-gap energy and charge recombination that caused from the incorporation of plasmonic photodeposited Ag nanoparticles on m-TiO2 nanospheres photoanodes.