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)3phosphoric 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.
Dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cell(DS-PEC) is an especially attractive method to generate hydrogen via visible light driven water splitting. Electrolyte, an essential component of DS-PEC, plays a great role in determining the photoactivities of devices for water splitting. When using phosphate buffer(pH = 6.4)as electrolyte, the DS-PEC displayed much higher photoactivity than using 0.1 M Na_2SO_4(pH = 6.4) as electrolyte. The insight is phosphate anion gathers together to form a negative electrostatic field on TiO_2 surface, which increases the resistance in the TiO_2/catalyst and electrolyte interface and validly reduces the charge recombination from TiO_2 to the oxidized catalyst.
