Photothermal effect at TiO2 electrodes in a photoelectrochemical cell

Abstract
Anomalous photoresponse of n-TiO2 in a photoelectrochemical cell was previously observed to be induced by light of energy lower than the bandgap. This photoresponse was attributed to surface states at the TiO2-electrolyte interface. We studied this effect at stationary and rotating disk TiO2 electrodes and we show that the anomalous photoresponse is a thermal effect due to heating of the crystal surface by the illumination.