Investigation of the kinetics of a TiO2 photoelectrocatalytic reaction involving charge transfer and recombination through surface states by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

In this paper, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) mathematical model of TiO2 photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) reactions involving charge transfer and recombination through surface states was developed. The model was used to study the kinetics of photoelectrocatalytic decomposition of salicylic acid. The model simulation results show that the appearance of two distinguishable semicircles in the EIS response depends on the charging of surface state and light intensity. The experimental results demonstrated that similar phenomena to the theoretical simulation results. The model provides a way to obtain the rate constants for the photoelectrochemical reactions of surface states mediating charge transfer and recombination. The applied potential changes not only the recombination rate constant but also the charge-transfer rate constant. Moreover, the experimental EIS results here and those previous published on PEC degradation reactions can be explained by the present model satisfactorily. The relevance of surface states was discussed briefly. The results demonstrated that EIS is a powerful tool for studying the kinetics of PEC decomposition of organic pollutants on TiO2 electrodes.