Titanate nanotubes /reduced graphene oxide nanoheterostructures for photo-assisted methanol fuel cell application

• Main Authors: Wang, Man-ying, 王曼穎
• Other Authors: Hsu, Yung-Jung
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/63743093152547822493

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 材料科學與工程學系所 === 103 === In this work, we reported the one-step preparation of titanate /reduced graphene oxide nanoheterostructures with a facile hydrothermal method. The samples were prepared by reacting graphene oxide (GO), which was obtained from Hummers’ method, with P-25 TiO2 nanoparticles in the alkaline hydrothermal reaction. During the hydrothermal process, reduction of GO was accompanied with the deposition of titanate nanotubes, resulting in the formation of titanate /RGO nanoheterostructures. Because of the considerably high electrical conductivity of RGO, the photoexcited electrons of titanate nanotubes would preferentially transfer to RGO, leaving positively charged holes in titanate to achieve charge carrier separation. To evaluate the photoconversion efficiency, the samples were used as photoanode in the half-cell reaction of direct methanol fuel cell and measured with cyclic voltammetry. As compared to the pristine titanate nanotubes, titanate /RGO samples displayed 3.7-fold enhancement in photocurrent generation under white light illumination. A 4.7 times increase in methanol oxidation current was attained by RGO-TNT-Pt, demonstrating its promising potential in relevant photo-assisted fuel cells.