Passivation of surface states by ALD-grown TiO2 overlayers on Ta3N5 anodes for photoelectrochemical water oxidation.

This paper describes the fabrication of TiO2 overlayers by atomic layer deposition to passivate the surface states on Ta3N5 thin film anodes for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. The removal of surface states reduces the overpotential and decreases the density of surface recombination centers, resulting in enhanced activity through effective utilization of photogenerated charge carriers.