Synergetic Enhancement of Light Harvesting and Charge Separation over Surface-Disorder-Engineered TiO2 Photonic Crystals

Solar light harvesting and charge separation are both critical to the solar-to-energy conversion in photocatalysis, but it is difficult to simultaneously achieve both in a single-component material. This paper describes the design and synthesis of dual-functional surface-disorder-engineered titanium dioxide photonic crystals (TiO2 PCs) for efficient solar light harvesting and charge separation in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The slow photon effect of TiO2 PCs enhances the photon-matter interaction to increase light harvesting, and the disorder-engineered surface layer can form band tail states and trap centers to promote the separation and inhibit the recombination of charge carriers. The synergetic enhancement of light harvesting and charge separation in this single-component material leads to a high performance toward photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. This approach provides a promising strategy for designing dual-functional materials with a high solar-to-energy conversion efficiency for various photocatalytic processes.