Electrochemical synthesis and characterization of TiO2/ERGO/ITO nanocomposite electrodes

TiO2, which is a very important material in photovoltaic applications, was directly deposited on the ITO electrode surface using cathodic electrodeposition technique. In the voltammetric studies, where both TiCl3 and TiOSO4 were used as the salt source, it was found that the TiOSO4 salt was more suitable for TiO2 formation due to the change of the chlorine composition of TiCl3. The TiO(OH)2 form, which is the intermediate product, was obtained after 2 hours of deposition at -1100 mV in the TiOSO4 solution. The TiO2 anatase crystal structure was formed when the TiO(OH)2 intermediate was annealed at 400 °C for 2 hours. The deposited TiO2 film on the ITO substrate was characterized using XRD, XPS, EDS and SEM techniques. Electrochemical deposition of TiO2-ERGO was performed at a constant potential of -1100 mV from the mixed solution of GO and TiOSO4 solutions on the ITO electrode. Simultaneous electroreduction of GO and TiOSO4 yielded TiO2/ERGO composit structures. Characterization of this composite material was investigated using XRD, XPS, SEM and EDS techniques. The characterization process showed that the composite structure could be successfully synthesized by electrochemical technique.