Preparation And Photoelectric Properties Of N-Macroporous Silicon/TiO₂ Photoelectrode

Photoelectrochemical water splitting is an important approach to solve the energy problem. It is a hot topic that how to improve the water splitting performance of semiconductor photoanode. Heterostructured N-type macroporous Si/Ti O2 nanowire with three-dimensional pore structure as photoanode was first presented. In this paper, n-type macroporous silicon as substrate material was prepared by photo-assisted electrochemical etching. Macroporous silicon was shaped by anisotropic corrosion behavior of silicon. The Ti O2 nanowire cover layer on macroporous silicon was prepared by hydrothermal method. Thus, N-type macroporous Si/Ti O2 nanowire heterostructure was obtained. The formation of n-type macroporous Si/Ti O2 nanowire heterostructure was confirmed by XRD, SEM, EDX. The UV-Vis diffusion reflectance spectral showed that n-type macroporous Si/Ti O2 nanowire heterostructure has the strongest absorbtion. The photoelectric performance tests showed that n-type macroporous Si/Ti O2 nanowire heterostructure has the highest photocurrent. The results showed that N-type macroporous Si/Ti O2 nanowire heterostructure as photoanode improved the performance of photoelectrochemical water splitting.