Artificial Photosynthesis on TiO2-Passivated InP Nanopillars.

Here, we report photocatalytic CO2 reduction with water to produce methanol using TiO2-passivated InP nanopillar photocathodes under 532 nm wavelength illumination. In addition to providing a stable photocatalytic surface, the TiO2-passivation layer provides substantial enhancement in the photoconversion efficiency through the introduction of O vacancies associated with the nonstoichiometric growth of TiO2 by atomic layer deposition. Plane wave-density functional theory (PW-DFT) calculations confirm the role of oxygen vacancies in the TiO2 surface, which serve as catalytically active sites in the CO2 reduction process.

Enhanced Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to CO through TiO2 Passivation of InP in Ionic Liquids.

A robust and reliable method for improving the photocatalytic performance of InP, which is one of the best known materials for solar photoconversion (i.e., solar cells).

Plasmon-enhanced water splitting on TiO2-passivated GaP photocatalysts.

Integrating plasmon resonant nanostructures with photocatalytic semiconductors shows great promise for high efficiency photocatalytic water splitting. However, the electrochemical instability of most III-V semiconductors severely limits their applicability in photocatalysis. In this work, we passivate p-type GaP with a thin layer of n-type TiO2 using atomic layer deposition.