Photoelectrochemical decomposition of bio-related compounds at a nanoporous semiconductor film photoanode and their photocurrent–photovoltage characteristics

Abstract Photoelectrochemical decomposition of bio-related compounds such as amino acids was investigated with a biophotochemical cell comprising a mesoporous TiO 2 thin film photoanode and an O 2 -reducing cathode. It was concluded that a kind of Schottky junction formed at the surface of the TiO 2 (called as liquid junction) induced the photodecomposition followed by generation of photocurrent/photovoltage. Complete photodecomposition was investigated by the CO 2 formation yield. The photocurrent–photovoltage ( J – V ) characteristics of amino acids and other typical bio-related compounds were investigated, and the short circuit photocurrent ( J sc ), open circuit photovoltage ( V oc ), and Fill factor (ff) were exhibited. Effect of pH on the photodecomposition of phenylalanine and cysteine were studied; for cysteine alkaline conditions gave a high efficiency, which was interpreted by the high electron-donating ability of the dissociated –S − group. The incident light-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of cysteine was 25% at 350 nm. It was for the first time shown that organic acids gave high internal quantum efficiency ( η ′) over 8 (=800%) in the photodecomposition; for oxalic acid it was 9.3 (=930%) and for butyric acid 8.2. The alternating current impedance spectroscopy of glycine showed that the cell performance is determined by the chemical reactions at TiO 2 or Pt electrodes.