Abstract

Hybrid films composed by TiO2 and functionalized MWCNTs were synthesized and used as photoanodes to perform the water splitting process under neutral and free of sacrificial agents medium. The results show that introducing a sublayer of MWCNTs functionalized with -NO2 and -COOH groups leads to structural modifications on TiO2 that decrease the band gap and reduce the recombination phenomenon. Those groups anchored to nanotubes also play an important role in their dispersibility and provide an additional electron withdrawing effect to the pristine nanotubes. These conditions significantly improve the photoconversion efficiency of the hybrid system until 15-fold regarding pristine TiO2 prepared under the same conditions. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.