Surface plasmon-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting of a Ag/TiO2 nanoplate photoanode

Piangjai Peerakiatkhajohn; Jung-Ho Yun; Teera Butburee; Waraporn Nisspa; Supphasin Thaweesak

doi:10.1039/d1ra09070d

Surface plasmon-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting of a Ag/TiO₂ nanoplate photoanode

RSC Adv. 2022 Jan 20;12(5):2652-2661. doi: 10.1039/d1ra09070d. eCollection 2022 Jan 18.

Authors

Piangjai Peerakiatkhajohn¹, Jung-Ho Yun², Teera Butburee³, Waraporn Nisspa⁴, Supphasin Thaweesak⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University Nakhon Pathom 73170 Thailand piangjai.pee@mahidol.ac.th.
² Nanomaterials Centre, School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4123 Australia j.yun1@uq.edu.au.
³ National Nanotechnology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency 111 Thailand Science Park Pathum Thani 12120 Thailand teera.but@nanotec.or.th.
⁴ Division of Science and Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Phetchaburi Rajabhat University Phetchaburi 76000 Thailand waraporn.bun@mail.pbru.ac.th.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Burapha University Chon Buri 20131 Thailand supphasin@eng.buu.ac.th.

Abstract

A silver/titanium dioxide nanoplate (Ag/TiO₂ NP) photoelectrode was designed and fabricated from vertically aligned TiO₂ nanoplates (NP) decorated with silver nanoparticles (NPs) through a simple hydrothermal synthesis and electrodeposition route. The electrodeposition times of Ag NPs on the TiO₂ NP were crucial for surface plasmon-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting performance. The Ag/TiO₂ NP at the optimal deposition time of 5 min with a Ag element content of 0.53 wt% demonstrated a remarkably high photocurrent density of 0.35 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE under AM 1.5G illumination, which was 5 fold higher than that of the pristine TiO₂ NP. It was clear that the enhanced light absorption properties and PEC performance for Ag/TiO₂ NP could be effectively adjusted by simply controlling the loading amounts of metallic Ag NPs (average size of 10-30 nm) at different electrodeposition times. The superior PEC performance of the Ag/TiO₂ NP photoanode was attributed to the synergistic effects of the plasmonic Ag NPs and the TiO₂ nanoplate. Interestingly, the plasmonic effect of Ag NPs not only increased the visible-light response (λ _max = 570 nm) of TiO₂ but also provided hot electrons to promote photocurrent generation and suppress charge recombination. Importantly, this study offers a potentially efficient strategy for the design and fabrication of a new type of TiO₂ hybrid nanostructure with a plasmonic enhancement for PEC water splitting.