Document Type

Article

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

1. NATURAL SCIENCES, 1.3 PHYSICAL SCIENCES, Inorganic and nuclear chemistry, Colloid chemistry

Publication Details

Advanced Functional Materials, 21, 2011, 3744-3752

Abstract

The simultaneous existence of visible light photocatalytic activity and high temperature anatase phase stability up to 900 ° C in undoped TiO 2 is reported for the fi rst time. These properties are achieved by the in-situ generation of oxygen through the thermal decomposition of peroxo-titania complex (formed by the precursor modifi cation with H 2 O 2 ). Titania containing the highest amount of oxygen (16 H 2 O 2 -TiO 2 )retains 100% anatase phase even at 900 ° C, where as the control sample exists as 100% rutile at this temperature. The same composition exhibits a six-fold and two-fold increase in visible light photocatalytic activities in comparison to the control sample and the standard photocatalyst Degussa P-25 respectively. Among the various para meters affecting the photocatalytic action, such as band gap narrowing, textural properties, crystallite size, and anatase phase stability, band gap narrowing was identifi ed as the major factor responsible for the visible light photocatalytic activity. Increased Ti–O–Ti bond strength and upward shifting of the valence band (VB) maximum, which is responsible for the high temperature stability and visible light activity respectively, are identifi ed from FT–IR, XPS, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic studies. It is therefore proposed that the oxygen excess defects present in these titania samples are responsible for the high temperature stability and enhanced visible light photocatalytic activities.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201100301


Share

COinS