Electrospun Ag/TiO2 Heterostructured Nanofibers for Photoelectrochemical Applications

Abstract

A unique heterostructure of Ag/TiO2 nanofibers (denoted as Ag/TiO2 NFs) have been fabricated by a facile electrospinning technique with subsequent annealing. The loading amount of the Ag nanoparticles can be conveniently tailored by adjusting the concentration of the Ag precursor. The resulting samples were characterized by different techniques such as SEM, TEM, XRD, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra and XPS. Photoelectrochemical performances were also tested under full spectrum light illumination and the results demonstrated that Ag nanoparticles provided efficient separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs and made for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity in comparison with pure TiO2 nanofibers. Furthermore, the optimum matching between the Ag and TiO2 for the best photoelectrochemical activity was investigated and a reasonable mechanism was also proposed.