Prasadam Vasu Prasad, Huerta Flores Ali Margot, Bahlawane Naoufal
Material Research and Technology Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology Rue du Brill L-4422 Belvaux Luxembourg
RSC Adv. 2021 Oct 8;11(52):33169-33178. doi: 10.1039/d1ra05723e. eCollection 2021 Oct 4.
Porous composite coatings, made of a carbon nanotube (CNT)-TiO core-shell structure, were synthesized by the hybrid CVD-ALD process. The resulting TiO shell features an anatase crystalline structure that covers uniformly the surface of the CNTs. These composite coatings were investigated as photoanodes for the photo-electrochemical (PEC) water splitting reaction. The CNT-TiO core-shell configuration outperforms the bare TiO films obtained using the same process regardless of the deposited anatase thickness. The improvement factor, exceeding 400% in photocurrent featuring a core-shell structure, was attributed to the enhancement of the interface area with the electrolyte and the electrons fast withdrawal. The estimation of the photo-electrochemically effective surface area reveals that the strong absorption properties of CNT severely limit the light penetration depth in the CNT-TiO system.
采用化学气相沉积-原子层沉积（CVD-ALD）混合工艺合成了由碳纳米管（CNT）-TiO核壳结构组成的多孔复合涂层。所得的TiO壳具有锐钛矿晶体结构，均匀覆盖在CNT表面。对这些复合涂层作为光电化学（PEC）水分解反应的光阳极进行了研究。无论锐钛矿沉积厚度如何，CNT-TiO核壳结构均优于采用相同工艺获得的裸TiO薄膜。具有核壳结构的光电流提高因子超过400%，这归因于与电解质界面面积的增加以及电子的快速提取。光电化学有效表面积的估算表明，CNT的强吸收特性严重限制了CNT-TiO体系中的光穿透深度。
