Fabrication of Titanium Oxide Thin-Film Electrodes with Photocatalytic Activities and an Evaluation of Their Photoelectrochemical Properties

Abstract

We synthesized hollow spherical titanium oxide particles, which are one of the structural features of fabricating a thin-film photoelectrode, using the particles and evaluated their properties. The XRD diffraction results confirmed the main phase peaks of the target rutile-type hollow spherical titanium oxide (HSTR) and bronze-type hollow spherical titanium oxide (TiO2(B)). The calcium carbonate used in the core material was also removed. The photocatalytic reaction measurement result showed that the activity of TiO2(B) in ultraviolet light of 365 nm was higher than that of TiO2(B). As shown in the visible spectrum, the photo adsorption wavelength of HSTR was approxim ately 700 nm, whereas TiO2(B) was generally absorbed around 400 nm. A relationship between an electric current peak and the square root of a scan potential speed suggested a reversible reaction system in light irradiation.

Keywords

• environment energy
• TiO₂
• hollow spherical nanoparticles
• photoelectrochemical measurement