利用太阳光催化分解水制氢，将间歇性的太阳能转化为可储存、无污染的氢能，是人类梦寐以求解决能源紧缺问题的重要途径之一。高效稳定的可见光响应型光催化材料是实现太阳能光解水制氢的关键。量子点敏化纳米管阵列，既能充分利用纳米管阵列的结构优势，又能通过调控量子点尺寸实现可见光响应，是理想的光解水电极材料。本项目拟制备出具有可见光响应活性的量子点敏化TiO2纳米管阵列光解水阳极材料，通过改变纳米管表面性质以及量子点与纳米管的结合方式，系统研究制备方法、结构调控和光电化学性能三者之间的关系。通过研究量子点敏化纳米管阵列的能带结构、界面性质、电子态结构的变化，探讨量子点与TiO2界面电子转移机制，分析界面性质对光诱导电子和空穴的有效分离和传输的影响规律，探索界面结构中深能级存在的实验证据并分析其对可见光响应活性的作用机理，获得提高太阳光吸收和光电转化效率的有效方法，构建高效稳定的太阳能光解水制氢体系。

Using solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen is one of the most important ways to solve the problem of energy shortage, which can convert the intermittent solar energy to the storable and clean hydrogen energy. This approach will be impracticable until certain materials-related constraints are overcome: to get a stable and efficient photocatalytic material which possesses controllable geometric structure and can absorb the visible light in the solar spectrum. Quantum dot-sensitized nanotube arrays not only offer highly ordered one-dimensional nanostructure to enhance the electron transport efficiency, but also allow one to tune the visible response by modulating the dot size. In the project, we are going to fabricate visible-light active quantum dot-sensitized nanotube-array photoelectrodes for water splitting, and investigate the relationship between the microstructure and the photoelectrochemical properties by combining optical, electrical and photoelectrochemical analysis techniques. We will also study the interfacial electron-transfer behavior and its dependence on the interfacial structure by varying the nanotube surface nature and the quantum dot-nanotube interconnects. Furthermore, we try to explore whether or not there are deep levels on the quantum dot/nanotube interface and understand their effects on the visible-light absorption and charge transport. Our purpose is to find an effective method to improve the photoelectrical conversion efficiency of the nanotube-array photoelectrodes, and finally achieve a stable and efficient photocatalytic system for H2 generation using solar energy.