Optimization of PEC and photocathodic protection performance of TiO2/CuInS2heterojunction photoanodes

Hongmei Cheng; Xiaotian Wang; Zhiming Bai; Chuang Zhu; Zhibo Zhang; Qiang Zhang; Qi Wang; Hailiang Dong; Bingshe Xu

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac9482

Optimization of PEC and photocathodic protection performance of TiO₂/CuInS₂heterojunction photoanodes

Nanotechnology. 2022 Oct 12;34(1). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac9482.

Authors

Hongmei Cheng¹, Xiaotian Wang¹, Zhiming Bai¹, Chuang Zhu², Zhibo Zhang¹, Qiang Zhang¹, Qi Wang¹, Hailiang Dong^{3

4}, Bingshe Xu^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 10083, People's Republic of China.
² New Energy (Photovoltaic) Industry Research Center, Qinghai University, Xining, 810016, People's Republic of China.
³ Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials, Taiyuan University of Technology, Ministry of Education, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030024, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030024, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 36150363
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac9482

Abstract

The establishment of heterojunction is a powerful strategy to enhance the photoresponse performance of photoanode. Here, TiO₂/CuInS₂(T/CIS) composites were prepared via a two-step hydrothermal method, and their morphologies were controlled by adjusting the reaction time. The absorption spectra show that CuInS₂can significantly improve the absorption of visible light. The T/CIS2 (2 h reaction time) photoanode exhibited the most outstanding photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance, with a photocurrent density of 168% that of the pure TiO₂photoanode. Under simulated sunlight, this photoanode can supply a protective photocurrent of 0.49 mA cm^-2and a protective voltage of 0.36 V to stainless steel (304ss), which are about 4 and 2 times those of the TiO₂sample. The enhancement in the photocathodic protection performance is attributed to enlarged visible light absorbance and higher charge separation rate. This study demonstrates that the TiO₂/CuInS₂photoanode is a promising candidate for application in photoinduced cathodic protection of metallic materials.

Keywords: 304ss; CuInS2; TiO2; photocathodic protection; photoelectrochemical.