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The purpose of this study is to apply the distribution function formalism to the problem of electronic transport in open systems, and to numerically solve the kinetic equation with a dissipation term. This term is modeled within the relaxation time approximation and contains two parts, corresponding to elastic or inelastic processes. The collision operator is approximated as a sum of the semi-classical energy dissipation term and the momentum relaxation term, which randomizes the momentum but does not change the energy. As a result, the distribution of charge carriers changes due to the dissipation processes, which has a profound impact on the electronic transport through the simulated region discussed in terms of the current–voltage characteristics and their modification caused by the scattering. Measurements of the current–voltage characteristics for titanium dioxide thin layers are also presented, and compared with the results of numerical calculations.

The electrical resistivity of thin film metal oxide photoanodes in the photoelectrochemical cells, PEC, for hydrogen generation, the importance of which should not be neglected in the design and construction of water-splitting devices, is found to be affected by the departure from stoichiometric composition and film thickness. Here, we propose to use TiO2/ITO photoanodes for photoelectrochemical cells. The TiO2−x thin films with x indicating a departure from the stoichiometric composition have been prepared by dc magnetron sputtering with the deposition rate controlled by the optical emission spectroscopy, OES. Photoanode properties were determined by scanning electron microscopy, SEM, atomic force mocroscopy, AFM, Raman spectroscopy, transmittance and reflectance measurements over uv/vis/nir wavelength ranges, impedance spectroscopy, Mott–Schottky plots, and photocurrent versus voltage dependence in the dark and under white light illumination. The contributions of the charge carrier concentration and mobility to the enhanced photocurrent of the PEC have been determined and correlated to the varying film stoichiometry and thickness, respectively.

The purpose of this study is to apply the distribution function formalism to the problem of electronic transport in open systems, and numerically solve the kinetic equation with a dissipation term. This term is modeled within the relaxation time approximation, and contains two parts, corresponding to elastic or inelastic processes. The collision operator is approximated as a sum of the semiclassical energy dissipation term, and the momentum relaxation term which randomizes momentum but does not change energy. As a result, the distribution of charge carriers changes due to the dissipation processes, which has a profound impact on the electronic transport through the simulated region discussed in terms of the current–voltage characteristics and their modification caused by the scattering.