Influences of the adsorption state of catalyst on the performance of DS-PEC for visible light driven water splitting

Adsorption state of catalyst on photoanode is an important factor on influencing the performance of dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells (DS-PECs) for water splitting. Photoanode TiO 2 ( 1   +   2 ) was assembled with Ru(bpy) 3 phosphoric acid derivative (complex 1 ) as photosensitizer and complex 2 as water oxidation catalyst to compare with photoanode TiO 2 ( 1   +   3 ). The photocurrent density of photoanode TiO 2 ( 1   +   3 ) with catalyst 3 synthesized with only one end fixing on the surface of TiO 2 is about four-fold of the photoanode assembled with catalyst 2 fixing with two claws on the surface of TiO 2 . The phenomenon should be caused by the littery arrangement and shorter distance of catalyst 2 from the active center of catalyst to TiO 2 on the surface of semiconductor which led to lowly efficient electron transfer.