Fabrication and Photoelectrochemical Properties of CdS/TiO2 Composite Nanotube Array Electrode

摘要

The synthesis and application of one dimensional composite nanomaterials have aroused increasing interest in recent years because the composites can exhibit better properties and superior performance than those of individual nanomaterials. Among various composite nanomaterials, TiO2-based composite nanomaterials are of particular concern for their great application potential in sensing, catalysis, photovoltaic, photoelectrolysis,nanotemplate and biocompatible coatings . However, the easy recombination between photogenerated electron/hole pairs leads to low quantum efficiency in the practical applications. Moreover,the wide band gap of TiO2 (3.2eV) limits its absorption of sunlight to the ultraviolet region of the solar spectrum, which occupies only less than 5% of the total solar energy. Therefore,the goal of research activities in this field is mainly directed to the fabrication of TiO2 nanocomposites with favourable configuration for the improvement of quantum efficiency and visible photosensitivity of TiO2.