Photoelectrochemical analysis of band gap modulated TiO2 for photocatalytic water splitting

Abstract In this study the photocatalysis efficiency of titania (TiO 2 ) is increased by conjugating it with folic acid (FA) molecules through a silane linker (APTMS) layer. Electrochemical testing demonstrated higher negative open circuit potential (OCP) in surface engineered TiO 2 as compared to TiO 2 indicating higher Schottky barrier leading to suppressed electron–hole pair recombination. The photocurrent density under no bias conditions demonstrated 55% increase in modified titania due to lower band gap and suppressed electron hole pair recombination. The mechanism behind higher photocatalytic properties of surface engineered TiO 2 was derived using density functional theory (DFT).