In Situ Determination of Polaron-Mediated Ultrafast Electron Trapping in Rutile TiO2 Nanorod Photoanodes

Mechanistic understanding of the photogenerated charge carrier dynamics in modified semiconductor photoanodes is vital for the efficient enhancement of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Here, an in situ femtosecond (fs)-transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) assisted spectroelectrochemistry technique is used to probe the behavior of charge carriers in rutile TiO₂ nanorod photoanodes under the different applied potentials and different density of surface polaron states that can be tuned via direct electrochemical protonation. We interpreted the background absorption with long-time decay in terms of polaron-mediated ultrafast electron trapping. The depleted surface polaron states on rutile TiO₂ nanorods can trap photogenerated electrons and endow them with a long lifetime; thus, increasing the polaron state density can enhance the charge separation efficiency and the photocurrent density of the TiO₂ nanorod electrode.