Synthesis of nanostructured materials for photoelectrochemical oxidation of organic compounds

The present work relates to the use of titanium dioxide nanotubular array (NT) as photoanode for the photoelectrochemical oxidation of phenol used as model of organic compounds. Moreover, surface modification of NT structures has been carried out by deposition of tungsten oxide in order to enhance the response of the system toward wave lengths in the near visible range. Nanotubular structures were prepared by electrochemical oxidation of Ti foils in a water/organic solution with 0.14 M of NH4F at room temperature. Tungsten oxide was electrochemically deposited on NTs structures in a hierarchical structure. The electro-and photoelectro-oxidation of phenol was studied in a typical three-electrode cell equipped with a quartz window. Irradiation of the photoanode was performed by a Xenon lamp (nominal power 300 W). Different electrochemical techniques, such as potential ramps and potential steps were adopted to investigate the performance of the system. SEM analysis was also performed to investigate on the morphology of the photoanode. Spectrophotometric analyses have been used to analyse the variation of the organic compound concentration.