Preparation of Ti/SnO2–Sb2O4 photoanode by electrodeposition and dip coating for PEC oxidations Original Research Article

Thin films of antimony-doped SnO2 on titanium substrate with a doping range of 1.5–8 mol% were prepared by an electrodeposition and dip coating method. The prepared Ti/SnO2–Sb2O4 thin films were tested as a photoanode in the photoelectrocatalytic(PEC) experiments to degrade phenol in aqueous solution in order to evaluate their PEC performance. The photocatalytic (PC), electrocatalytic (EC) and PEC activity of Ti/SnO2–Sb2O4 thin films was compared in the degradation processes. And the effect of annealing temperature on their PEC activity was also investigated. The experimental results confirmed that the Sb-doped Ti/SnO2 thin films enhanced the phenol degradation and the Ti/SnO2–Sb2O4 film containing 6 mol% of Sb calcinated at 450 °C achieved the best performance for phenol degradation. The degradation experiments also demonstrated that the Ti/SnO2–Sb2O4 film achieved faster degradation of phenol in the PEC process than in the PC and EC processes. Compared with Ti/TiO2 and Ti/SnO2 photoanodes, the Ti/SnO2–Sb2O4 photoanode showed higher activity.