TY - JOUR AU - Liu, Changhai AU - Wang, Fang AU - Zhang, Jin AU - Wang, Ke AU - Qiu, Yangyang AU - Liang, Qian AU - Chen, Zhidong PY - 2018/02/09 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting by g-C3N4/TiO2 Nanotube Array Heterostructures JF - Nano-Micro Letters JA - Nano-Micro Lett VL - 10 IS - 2 SE - Articles DO - 10.1007/s40820-018-0192-6 UR - https://www.nmlett.org/index.php/nml/article/view/281 SP - 37 AB - <p>Well-ordered TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotube arrays (TNTAs) decorated with graphitic carbon nitride (g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>) were fabricated by anodic oxidization and calcination process. First, TNTAs were prepared via the anodic oxidation of Ti foil in glycerol solution containing fluorinion and 20% deionized water. Subsequently, g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> film was hydrothermally grown on TNTAs via the hydrogen-bonded cyanuric acid melamine supramolecular complex. The results showed that g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> was successfully decorated on the TNTAs and the g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>/TNTAs served as an efficient and stable photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting. The facile deposition method enables the fabrication of efficient and low-cost photoanodes for renewable energy applications.</p><p>Highlights:</p><p>1 Well-ordered TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotube arrays (TNTAs) decorated with g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> were fabricated by anodic oxidization of titanium foil and calcination process.<br>2 The g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>/TNTA heterojunction efficiently enhanced the photoelectrochemical activity for solar light-driven water splitting. Its photocurrent density and applied bias photon-to-current efficiency were, respectively, ~ 0.86 mA cm<sup>−2</sup> and ~ 0.25%, about twofold higher compared with those of pristine TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotube arrays.<br>3 The heterojunction expanded the optical absorption range of the TNTAs, accelerated the migration of carriers, and suppressed the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs via an efficient band alignment between TiO<sub>2</sub> and g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>.</p> ER -