Preparation and of TiO₂ nano-tubes photoelectrode and its photoelectrocatalytic performance

TiO₂ nanotube (TNTs) photoelectrodes were in-situ grown by anodization of Ti foils. The morphology and crystal structure of the resulting TNTs photoelectrodes were characterized by SEM and XRD. Results show that the as-prepared TNTs samples possess uniform tubular diameters ranging from 90 to 100 nm, and exhibit a single anatase structure. In addition, the effects of initial pH and external bias on the photocurrent response and photocatalytic activity of TNTs photoanode were mainly investigated. It is found that when the pH and external bias were 7.5 and 2.0 V, respectively, the highest photoresponse of 10.4 mA·cm^-2 could be obtained. Under the irradiation of 350 W Xenon lamp within 60 min, the photoelectrocatalytic degradation rate of RhB could achieve 82.6%.