Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement of Anatase TiO2 by Using TiO

Abstract EN

We employed high-energy ball-milling technique to fabricate TiO/ TiO 2 heterogeneous nanostructures.

XRD proved the existence of TiO/ TiO 2 heterogeneous structures.

SEM and HRTEM investigation evidenced that the mean particle size and mean grain size of the as-prepared samples are 23 nm and 13 nm, respectively.

UV-Vis spectra exhibited that TiO has enhanced the visible light absorption of TiO 2 and has changed the E g of TiO 2 .

UPS examination indicated that the electron work function (EWF) of TiO is higher than that of TiO 2 .

Photocatalytic degradation experiments revealed that an appropriate TiO content can enhance the photocatalytic activity of pure anatase TiO 2 .

The best photocatalytic activity of TiO/ TiO 2 heterogeneous nanostructures is even better than that of Au-deposited TiO 2 by keeping high degradation efficiency of 93%.

The internal electrical field producing in TiO/ TiO 2 heterogeneous nanostructures was considered to be dominantly responsible for the enhanced photocatalytic activity.

Therefore, the substitution of TiO with noble metal in TiO 2 will be widely used in the future due to its low cost.

This study also provides a clear direction of enhancing photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 : incorporating a guest compound into TiO 2 with an appropriate content if the compound has much higher electron work function than that of TiO 2 .