Photoelectrocatalytic Oxidation of Formic Acid at Titania@Polyoxometalate/Gold Nanocomposite Material Modified Electrode.

Amine functionalized silicate sol-gel stabilized titania (P25)-polyoxometalate (PTA)-gold (Au) nanocomposite materials (APS/(P25-PTA-Au)(NCM)) were prepared by a simple chemical reduction method and were used to fabricate modified photoelectrode for the photoelectrocatalytic oxidation of formic acid. The APS/(P25-PTA-Au)(NCM) photoelectrode showed synergistic photoelectrocatalytic behavior towards the oxidation of formic acid. The photoresponse of the APS/(P25-PTA-Au)(NCM) modified photoelectrode was found to be higher when compared to the controlled photoelectrodes. The present study shows that the loading of Au(nps) on APS/P25-PTA is more beneficial to enhance the photoinduced interfacial charge transfer process, which leads to increased photocurrent generation. The present study concludes that the photoelectrocatalytic oxidation of formic acid at the APS/(P25-PTA-Au)(NCM) photoelectrode will boost the formic acid fuel cell performance.