Investigation of ceramic photoanodes made from chromium-doped rutile

The electrophysical and photoelectrochemical properties of polycrystalline titanium dioxide have been investigated as a function of the chromium content. It is shown that an increase in the concentration of chromium in rutile photoanodes results in an increase in the longwavelength photosensitivity. At the same time, the rate of surface recombination increases, and the potential for the beginning of the anodic photocurrent is shifted toward more positive values. The photoanodes investigated were made from rutile containing chromium in amounts ranging from 0.1 to 2.5 at. %. The samples were prepared from ultrapure TiO/sub 2/ and Cr/sub 2/O/sub 3/. As the chromium concentration is increased to 1 at. %, the efficiency of the photoanodes drops sharply, and a further increase in the chromium concentration does not influence the value of the efficiency.