Abstract
In this work, we developed a new type of nanostructured photoanode for a photoelectrochemical water splitting. The photoanode is based on hierarchical brush Titanium dioxide (TIO ) nanostructures (BTNs), which were fabricated by our recently reported Glancing Angle Deposition and Oxidation (GLADOX) technique. The maximum incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) of the BTNs photoanode was around 22% in the UV region and around 5% in the VIS light. The integral IPCE of the BTNs measured under bias of 0.5V under UV light illumination was 30 times higher compared to the photoanode based on TIO nanorods and about 200 times higher compared to the one based on TIO flat film. These results demonstrate that the brush TIO nanostructures is a promising material for effective hydrogen generation via photocatalytic water splitting.