Synthesis and photoelectrical performance of nanoscale PbS and Bi2S3 co-sensitized on TiO2 nanotube arrays

TiO2 films have been widely applied in photovoltaic conversion techniques. TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2 NAs) can be grown directly on the surface of metal Ti by the anodic oxidation method. Bi2S3 and PbS nanoparticles (NPs) were firstly co-sensitized on TiO2 NAs (denoted as PbS/Bi2S3(n)/TiO2 NAs) by a two-step process containing hydrothermal and sonication-assisted SILAR method. When the concentration of Bi3+ is 5 mmol/L, the best photoelectrical performance was obtained under simulated solar irradiation. The short-circuit photocurrent (J sc) and photoconversion efficiency (η) of PbS/Bi2S3(5)/TiO2 NAs electrode were 4.70 mA/cm and 1.13 %, respectively.