The promising photoanode of Pt coupled TiO2 NFs/CdS QDs with enhanced photoelectrochemical performance

CdS quantum dots (QDs) were deposited on TiO2 nanoflowers (NFs) by a facile successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method to construct TiO2 NFs/CdS QDs. The structural, morphological and optical properties were measured for the prepared TiO2 NFs/CdS QDs. TiO2 NFs/CdS-6 showed the absorption edge up to about 500 nm with broaden visible light response. By taking full advantages of narrow band gap CdS QDs and 3D TiO2 NF, TiO2 NFs/CdS-6 showed the highest photocurrent density of 1.25 mA/cm(2) and 1.18 mA/cm(2) at 1.0 V vs. SCE under AM 1.5G and visible light illumination, respectively, which was about 48 and 118 times higher than that of pure TiO2 NFs. After employing Pt layer to form Pt/TiO2 NFs/CdS QDs structure, the PEC performance is further elevated by 39.8% enhancement under AM 1.5G illumination, which was further raised to 164.5% in the visible light regime. This facile and effective coupling Pt layer approach makes it possible to design metal/semiconductor/QDs structures for other general photoanode improvement. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.