Conductivity studies of nanostructured TiO2 films permeated with electrolyte

Charge transport in nanostructured TiO2 films permeated with an electrolyte was studied, using temperature-dependent conductivity and electron accumulation measurements. Two regions for charge transport were distinguished from the relationship between conductivity and electron concentration. In the first region (similar to1-20 electrons per TiO2 particle), the effective electron mobility is dependent on the electron concentration and values between 7 x 10(-4) and 78 x 10(-4) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) were determined. The activation energy of the mobility was similar to0.3 eV. The charge transport can be described with a trapping/detrapping model that involves localized band-gap states. In the second region (> 20 electrons per TiO2 particle), the effective electron mobility is independent of electron concentration and values of similar to150 x 10(-4) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) are calculated. The activation energy of mobility is in the range of 0-0.15 eV, depending on the electrolyte. Transport of electrons in the conduction band seems to be the most applicable model.