Titania nanotube supported gold photoanodes for photoelectrochemical cells

PETR 132

Peter H Aurora, paurora@umich.edu, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward Street, 3216 HH Dow Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2134, Chang Hwan Kim, chkm@umich.edu, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward Avenue, 3074 H. H. Dow Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2136, and Levi T Thompson, ltt@umich.edu, Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward Street, 3074 HH Dow Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2136.
A major obstacle for the wide-spread use of photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells is the low photoanode efficiency. By some accounts, the rate of water oxidation has to be increased by more than an order of magnitude to keep pace with the production of electrons and holes. In addition, carrier recombination losses need to be decreased. Two strategies for improving the performance of the photoanode were investigated: incorporating nanostructured gold onto surfaces of semiconducting oxides and producing thes oxides in the form of nanotubes. The deposition of gold nanoparticles resulted in a slight reduction in the bandgap of the TiO2, and a modest improvement in the electrocatalytic properties. Nanotubes also resulted in decreased recombination losses and their high surface areas enhanced the absorption of solar light and the catalytic activities. This paper will discuss the influence of gold nanoparticle size and dispersion and nanotube length on the performance of the PEC cells.
 

2nd Symposium on Hydrogen from Renewable Sources and Refinery Applications
8:00 AM-11:25 AM, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 209, Oral

Division of Petroleum Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008