| AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Surface Science | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session SS+HC-TuA |
| Session: | Photocatalysis and Photochemistry at Surfaces |
| Presenter: | Erik Skibinski, Cornell University |
| Authors: | E.S. Skibinski, Cornell University W.J.I. DeBenedetti, Cornell University A. Song, Cornell University A. Ortoll-Bloch, Cornell University M.A. Hines, Cornell University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The photoreactivity of organic self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on TiO2 surfaces is of considerable importance to applications such as dye-sensitized solar cells and photocatalytic environmental remediation. Despite extensive research, there remains little information about the reactivity of well characterized TiO2 surfaces under ambient conditions. Here, we study the surface structure and photoreactivity of near-ideal benzoate monolayers prepared from dilute aqueous solutions and reacted at atmospheric pressure on anatase (001) and rutile (110) surfaces using scanning tunneling microscopy, infrared and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, and density functional theory.
We show that self-assembled monolayers of benzoate, an analogue of the organic linkage used in dye-sensitized solar cells, undergo rapid photodecomposition on both rutile (110) and anatase (001) under ultraviolet illumination in ambient and oxygen-rich conditions. Interestingly, while the two surfaces have similar, although not identical, reactivities, they differ in their reaction products, with the anatase polymorph producing a surface-bound ketene.