Transparent TiO2 Nanotubes Arrays Directly Grown on Quartz Glass Used in Front- and Back-Side Irradiation Configuration for Photocatalytic H2 Generation

TL;DR

This study develops transparent TiO2 nanotube arrays on quartz for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production, optimizing their fabrication and illumination configurations to enhance performance.

Contribution

It introduces a method to grow transparent TiO2 nanotubes on quartz and demonstrates their effectiveness in photocatalytic H2 generation under different illumination setups.

Findings

Optimized fabrication yields high light transmission and adhesion.

Front-side illumination with optimal co-catalyst loading maximizes H2 production.

Transparent nanotube arrays enable versatile photocatalytic applications.

Abstract

In the present work we explore the front- and back-side performance of a photocatalytic platform consisting of self-organized TiO2 nanotube layers formed by complete anodization of Ti metal films evaporated on quartz slides. The adhesion and light transmission of the tube layers on the quartz surfaces are optimized by a suitable anodization procedure. After their growth, the nanotube arrays were converted into crystalline structures and sputter-coated with co-catalytic Pt nanoparticles. The optically transparent quartz substrates enable the use of the Pt-decorated tube layers for photocatalytic H2 generation under either front- or back-side illumination configurations. The nanotube films on quartz are characterized in view of their physico-chemical properties, including their light transmission features measured using different light sources. The results show that the front-side illumination under optimized factors, i.e., the amount of loaded co-catalyst, yields a maximized photocatalytic performance in terms of H2 generation.