Interrupted growth and photoelectrochemistry of Cu₂O and Cu particles on TiO₂

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• 作者：Liang Zhao ; Wen Dong ; Fengang Zheng ; Liang Fang ; Mingrong Shen
• 关键词：Cuprous oxide ; Electrochemical deposition ; Photoelectrochemical properties ; Titatium oxide film
• 刊名：Electrochimica Acta
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：1 October, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：80
• 期：Complete
• 页码：354-361
• 全文大小：2421 K

文摘

The enhancement of photo-current conversion and/or photocatalytic efficiency in the heterostructure of TiO₂ combined with Cu₂O particles has been obtained by many groups, whereas studies about the controllable growth of the Cu₂O particles are missing. In this study, Cu₂O is fabricated on TiO₂ flat surface using a special interrupted pulse-electrodeposition and the microstructural and morphological evolution of the Cu₂O particles during the interrupted growth has been investigated. The rational control of the particle size and density is achieved by varying the deposition parameters and especially the interruption times during the Cu₂O growth. The photoelectrochemical performance of the Cu₂O/TiO₂ heterostructure is therefore modified significantly. The photocurrent of the Cu₂O/TiO₂ heterostructure under zero bias obviously decreases during the photoelectrochemical measurement, and the transformation of Cu₂O to Cu is observed, along with the stabilized photocurrent. Compared with the pure TiO₂ layer on Ti substrate, large enhancement of the photoelectrochemical activity is obtained when Cu₂O or Cu particles are covered on TiO₂ surface, and different mechanisms behind the enhancement are suggested. The electrodeposition method proposed in this study achieves the optimal photoelectrochemical activity by opening a new way to grow Cu₂O or Cu particles on TiO₂ with tunable grain size and density.