Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Response of Graphene-Coated Al₂O₃-TiO₂ Nanocomposite Photoanodes

Abstract

Graphene-coated Al₂O₃ (GCA)-TiO₂ nanocomposite photoanodes were fabricated by dispersing the GCA (1, 3, and 5 wt.%) and TiO₂ nanoparticles. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) responses under the white light illumination were significantly enhanced with the increase of the GCA content and all of the GCA-TiO₂ films exhibited much better PEC responses than the electrode prepared from the TiO₂ alone. The significantly improved PEC response of the GCA-TiO₂ can be attributed to the enhanced electron transport.

Keywords:

• Electron transport
• graphene-coated Al₂O₃, TiO₂
• nanocomposite
• photoelectrochemical response

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (grant number 2010–0003968), and the Human Resources Development Program (R&D Workforce Cultivation Track for Solar Cell Materials and Processes) of Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

Notes

K.-S. Ahn and C.-J. Choi contributed equally to this work as the corresponding authors.