Morphology effects of in situ hydrothermally treated hierarchical TiO2 nanofilms on their photoelectrochemical cathodic protection performance against 304 stainless steel corrosion

Various TiO2 nanofilms with nanosheet, nanosheet-nanowire hybrid, and nanowire nanostructures were successfully achieved through an in situ hydrothermal alkali-etching method. The effects of the TiO2 film structures on their photoelectrochemical cathodic protection performance against 304 stainless steel corrosion were evaluated. Characterization results show that the as-prepared TiO2 films exist mainly as anatase crystals and that TiO2 nanowire films display high light absorption intensity, low fluorescence intensity, and great carrier density. After coupling with TiO(2 )nanowire films, the corrosion potential of 340SS presents the most negative shift from - 0.216 V vs. SCE to - 0.306 V vs. SCE, and the photopotential and the photocurrent density display the largest response of - 0.284 V and 0.22 mA cm(-2). The nanowire structure enhances light scattering and trapping for efficient solar light harvesting. [GRAPHICS] .