Catechol-TiO2 hybrids for photocatalytic H2 production and photocathode assembly

Katherine L Orchard; Daisuke Hojo; Katarzyna P Sokol; Meng-Ju Chan; Naoki Asao; Tadafumi Adschiri; Erwin Reisner

doi:10.1039/c7cc05094a

Catechol-TiO₂ hybrids for photocatalytic H₂ production and photocathode assembly

Chem Commun (Camb). 2017 Nov 23;53(94):12638-12641. doi: 10.1039/c7cc05094a.

Authors

Katherine L Orchard¹, Daisuke Hojo², Katarzyna P Sokol³, Meng-Ju Chan², Naoki Asao², Tadafumi Adschiri², Erwin Reisner³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK. reisner@ch.cam.ac.uk and WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan. ajiri@tagen.tohoku.ac.jp.
² WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan. ajiri@tagen.tohoku.ac.jp.
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK. reisner@ch.cam.ac.uk.

PMID: 29119188
DOI: 10.1039/c7cc05094a

Abstract

Visible-light driven H₂ evolution in water is achieved using catechol-photosensitised TiO₂ nanoparticles with a molecular nickel catalyst. Layer-by-layer immobilisation of catechol-TiO₂ onto tin-doped indium oxide electrodes generates photocathodic currents in the presence of an electron acceptor. This approach represents a new strategy for controlling photocurrent direction in dye-sensitised photoelectrochemical applications.