Abstract
An efficient photoelectrodc is prepared by sequentially assembled CdS and CdSe quantum dots (QDs) onto a nanocrystallinc TiO2 film. The CdS/CdSe co-sensitized photoelectrodc was found to have a complementary effect in the light absorption. Furthermore, the cascade structure, TiO 2/CdS/CdSe, exhibits a significant enhancement in the current-voltage response, both in dark conditions and under light illumination. On the contrary, the performance of the reverse structure, TiO2/CdSe/CdS, is much less than the electrode using a single sensitizer. The open circuit potentials measured in the dark for these electrodes indicates that a Fermi level alignment occurs between CdS and CdSe after their contact, causing downward and upward shifts of the band edges, respectively, for CdS and CdSe. A stepwise band edge structure is, therefore, constructed in the TiO 2/CdS/CdSe electrode, which is responsible for the performance enhancement of this photoelectrode. The saturated photocurrent achieved by the TiO2/CdS/CdSe electrode under the illumination of UV cutoff AM 1.5 (100 mW/cm2) is 14.9 mA/cm2. which is three times the value obtained by the TiO2/CdS and TiO2/CdSe electrode. When a ZnS layer is further deposited for passivating the QDs. the corresponding hydrogen evolution rate measured for the TiO2/CdS/CdSe/ZnS electrode is 220 μmol/(cm2 h) (5.4 mL/(cm2 h)). This performance is presently the highest reported for the QD-sensitized photoclectrochcmical cells.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 922-927 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Chemistry of Materials |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 Feb 9 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Chemistry
- General Chemical Engineering
- Materials Chemistry