Photoelectrochemical Properties of Annealed Anodic TiO₂ Layers Covered with CuO_x

Abstract

In this work, we present a systematic study on the influence of Cu2+ ion concentration in the impregnation solution on the morphology, structure, optical, semiconducting, and photoelectrochemical properties of anodic CuOx-TiO2 materials. Studied materials were prepared by immersion in solutions with different concentrations of (CH3COO)2Cu and subjected to air-annealing at 400 °C, 500 °C, or 600 °C for 2 h. The complex characterization of all studied samples was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), reflectance measurements, Mott–Schottky analyses, and photocurrent measurements. It was found that band gap engineering based on coupling CuO with TiO2 (Eg~3.3 eV) is an effective strategy to increase the absorption in visible light due to band gap narrowing (CuOx-TiO2 materials had Eg~2.4 eV). Although the photoactivity of CuO-TiO2 materials decreased in the UV range due to the deposition of CuO on the TiO2 surface, in the Vis range increased up to 600 nm at the same time.

Keywords

• titanium oxide
• copper oxide
• anodization
• impregnation
• photoelectrochemical activity