Applied Surface Science, Vol.410, 547-556, 2017
Constructing ternary polyaniline-graphene-TiO2 hybrids with enhanced photoelectrochemical performance in photo-generated cathodic protection
Ternary polyaniline-graphene-TiO2 nanocomposites were constructed through a stepwise synthetic route. The hybrids exhibit remarkable enhancement in photoelectrochemical performance. The transfer of photo-excited carriers in the ternary composites facilitates the photo-induced electron-hole separation. Meanwhile, the flat band potential shift of the hybrids increases the inner electric field intensity that drives the photo-excited electron migration from the composites to the coupled metal. Furthermore, the ternary hybrids were found firstly to be photo-chargeable, which shows application potentials in photo-generated cathodic protection in dark. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.