Hydrothermal reaction time effect in wettability and photoelectrochemical properties of TiO2 nanorods arrays films.

Titanium dioxide nanorods arrays (NRAs) photoanodes have been grown by the hydrothermal method on FTO coated glass substrates for different hydrothermal reaction time. Synthesized TiO 2 NRAs films were compared in terms of their structural, optical and morphological properties. Their wettability and photoelectrochemical performances were also investigated. We found that the sample elaborated at 10 h has the best physical properties. SEM images show that the surface of the FTO substrate is uniformly covered by TiO 2 NRs with the optimum packing density. UV–vis-absorption measurements revealed that this sample exhibits good (excellent) light harvesting capabilities. The wettability tests revealed that this sample is more hydrophilic among all prepared samples. A strong correlation between morphological, optical and photoelectrochemical performance has been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]