| 研究実績の概要 |
By performing electrochemical anodization on Ti29Nb13Ta4.6Zr (TNTZ) alloys, quaternary TNTZO mixed-oxide nanotube arrays with controllable geometric features were prepared. Compared with pristine TiO2, the TNTZO photoanodes exhibited noticeably enhanced photoactivity toward solar water splitting. The analytic results manifest that the superior photoactivity of TNTZO originated from the introduction of Nd, Ta, and Zr elements, which enhanced the amount of accessible charge carriers, modified the electronic structure, and improved the hole-transfer kinetics for expediting water splitting. Furthermore, reducing the water content of the electrolyte to 0.9 vol % generated TNTZO nanotubes that can be fully depleted during PEC operations, which may serve as a versatile structural backbone to construct a sophisticated photoelectrode paradigm. This work examined the realistic hydrogen evolution by employing TNTZO as the photoanode in the PEC water splitting cell. This illustration reveals that the fully depleted TNTZO nanotubes can practically perform PEC water splitting to realize solar hydrogen production. Especially, with the nontoxic and biocompatible characteristics, the present TNTZO nanotube arrays may find virtually unique yet practically viable applications in biotechnologically important fields such as PEC biomolecule sensing and PEC biofuel reforming.
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