Tailoring the morphology and electrocatalytic properties of electrochemically formed Ag/TiO2 composite deposits on titanium surfaces

Abstract

Three different forms of Ag/TiO2 composite layers, which have whisker-, dot- and island-like distribution of silver were obtained on a mechanically polished titanium surface by adjusting the conditions of silver deposition from an aqueous AgNO3 solution. The deposit morphology was the result of both the program of electrode polarization and the template action of the simultaneously formed TiO2 layer. The catalytic activity of the composite layers toward the oxygen reduction reaction was studied in aqueous 0.1 M NaOH solutions and found to be a function of both the surface loading of silver and the type of silver distribution within the Ag/TiO2 composite layers. The reaction path of oxygen reduction on the composite layers was found to be always a 4e- one, characteristic otherwise of polycrystalline silver electrodes.

Keywords

• metal/oxide composite electrocatalysts
• oxygen reduction reaction
• rotating disc electrode
• silver electrodeposition
• titanium dioxide film