Revisiting SrTiO3 as a photoanode for water splitting: development of thin films with enhanced charge separation under standard solar irradiation

Abstract

Strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) is an n-type semiconductor with high chemical and photochemical stability. This wide band gap oxide has a band gap energy of about 3.2 eV as well as a favorable energy for photocatalysis. In this study, we demonstrate an alternative and superior method to produce Nb-doped and undoped SrTiO₃ photoanode thin films based on a colloidal deposition process which possess good activity under standard solar illumination conditions. Methanol was used as “hole scavenger,” and the results showed that the semiconductor–liquid junction (SCLJ) charge accumulation is not an important mechanism to control the photocurrent density and overpotential. In addition, experimental results suggest that the dominance of photocurrent density is controlled by the potential at the surface space charge layer for the Nb-doped SrTiO₃ and by recombination at the depletion layer for the undoped oxide.