Mechanism and Activity of Photocatalytic Oxygen Evolution on Titania Anatase in Aqueous Surroundings

Due to its high overpotential and low efficiency, the conversion of water to O-2 using solar energy remains a bottleneck for photocatalytic water splitting. Here the microscopic mechanisms of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on differently structured anatase surfaces in aqueous surroundings, namely, (101), (001), and (102), are determined and compared systematically by combining first-principles density functional theory calculations and a parallel periodic continuum solvation model. We show that OER involves the sequential removal of protons from surface oxidative species, forming surface peroxo and superoxo intermediates. The initiating step, the first proton removal, dictates the high overpotential. Only at an overpotential of 0.7 V (1.93 V vs SHE) does this rate-controlling step become surmountable at room temperature: the free energy change of the step is 0.69, 0.63, and 0.61 eV for (101), (102), and (001) surfaces, respectively. We therefore conclude that (i) OER is not sensitive to the local surface structure of anatase and (ii) visible light (<similar to 590 nm) is, in principle, capable of driving the photocatatlytic OER on anatase kinetically. By co-doping high-valent elements into the anatase subsurface, we demonstrate that the high overpotential of the OER can be significantly reduced, with extra occupied levels above the valence band.