Photo-electrochemical properties of oxide semiconductors on porous titanium metal electrodes

For the purpose of producing hydrogen using solar energy, we investigated the potential of porous titanium metal sheet (PTMS) with high surface area for use as the basal plates for various types of oxide semiconductor photo-electrodes. The TiO2 photoelectrodes were prepared by oxidation of PTMS and flat titanium metal sheet (FTMS). The photocurrents of the TiO2/PTMS electrodes were always higher than TiO2/FTMS under the same oxidation conditions. The reflectance of PTMS was lower than FTMS over the entire wavelength spectrum, suggesting that the scattered light was absorbed more effectively on the former. A nanocrystalline WO3 layer-loaded PTMS electrode (WO3/PTMS) showed a high photocurrent compared to WO3/FTMS, suggesting that PTMS is highly suitable as basal plates for semiconductor photoelectrodes. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.