Enhancement and limits of the photoelectrochemical response from anodic TiO2 nanotubes -: art. no. 243114

TiO2 nanotube layers were grown on titanium by a self-organized anodic oxidation. The layers consist of arrays of individual tubes with a length of similar to 2 mu m, a diameter of similar to 100 nm, and a wall thickness of similar to 10 nm. These layers can be annealed to an anatase structure which strongly increases the photocurrent efficiency. Moreover, the nanotube layers can-under certain conditions-exhibit a drastically enhanced photocurrent compared to compact anatase layers. These strong changes in the photoresponse are attributed to the characteristics of the space charge layer within the tube wall. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.