ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Photocatalysis and Photochemistry
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1688359
This article is part of the Research TopicPhotoelectrochemistry in Solar Energy UtilizationView all articles
Facile Construction of Pt/TiO₂/Se/Ni Heterostructure for Efficient Visible-Light-Driven PEC Water Splitting
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Dong Hwa University, Shoufeng, Taiwan
- 2National Taipei University of Technology Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Taipei City, Taiwan
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In this study, a novel Pt/TiO₂/Se/Ni heterostructure photocathode was successfully fabricated via a simple and cost-effective method involving galvanic replacement, thermal annealing, and sequential spin-coating processes. Amorphous selenium was first deposited on nickel foil and subsequently transformed into crystalline trigonal Se through thermal treatment. The TiO₂ and Pt nanoparticles were then uniformly decorated onto the Se surface to form a hierarchical heterostructure. Structural, morphological, and compositional characterizations using XRD, SEM, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS confirmed the formation of trigonal selenium and the successful deposition of TiO₂ and Pt. Optical and photoelectrochemical (PEC) analyses revealed that the crystalline Se exhibited an optimal band gap of 1.89 eV and efficient visible light absorption. The Pt/TiO₂/Se photocathode delivered a significantly enhanced photocurrent density of –5 mA·cm⁻² at –0.3 V vs. Ag/AgCl, which is 1.6 times higher than that of the bare Se electrode. Mott–Schottky and EIS analyses demonstrated an increased carrier density and reduced charge transfer resistance, facilitating efficient charge separation and transfer. These findings highlight the great potential of the Pt/TiO₂/Se heterostructure as a high-performance photocathode for solar hydrogen production applications.
Keywords: Selenium, Titanium oxide, Platinum, Photoelectrochemical, Hydrogen
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 18 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hsu, Chen and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yu-Kuei Hsu, ykhsu@gms.ndhu.edu.tw
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