Influence of electronic structures of doped TiO2 on their photocatalysis

The modification of bandgap of TiO₂ was intensively studied for decades to improve its visible light absorbance efficiency. The practical application potential of TiO₂ as photocatalysts for water splitting and water purification has motivated enduring experimental and theoretical research of the doping effects in bulk and nanosized TiO₂ using transition metals, rear earths, p‐block metals and metalloids, and non‐metal elments as dopants to decrease the bandgap of TiO₂. This review summarized the typical theoretical results of the dopant induced variation in electronic structure, bandgap, and density of states of TiO₂. The codoping effects of metal/metal, metal/non‐metal combinations were also introduced briefly to display the modification of electronic structures. Some results were accompanied by experimental results to demonstrate the influence of improved light absorbance efficiency on the photocatalytic performance. The doping effects on the density of states of surface were also summarized briefly. The metal dopants show clear influences on the 3d electrons of titanium to elevate or depress the minimum of conduction band, while the non‐mental dopants mainly interact with the 2p electrons of oxygen to change the position of the maximum of the valence band. The review also noticed the theoretical development of the doping effect with the establishment of novel models, such as the water–TiO₂surface interaction. It should be noted that the theoretical models rarely consider the doping induced variation of defect types and concentration, Fermi level position, surface active sites, and charge transport due to the ground state simulation and shortcoming of density functional theory (DFT). The phenomenological explanations of the experimental results are arbitrary in most of the reports. A universal model is required to explain the complex dependence of the process of photocatalysis on the semiconducting properties, such as bandgap, Fermi level, charge transport, and surface states. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Electronic structure of disordered titanium monoxide TiO<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">y</Emphasis></Subscript> depending on stoichiometry

The electronic structure of disordered nonstoichiometric titanium monoxide TiO _y depending on the oxygen content has been studied by the supercell method in the DFT-GGA approximation with the use of pseudo-potentials. An increase in the oxygen content in TiO _y leads to a decrease in the electron density of states near the Fermi level. The calculation of the enthalpy of formation of the ordered and disordered phases has shown that the disordered phase TiO _y is more energetically favorable than the phase without the TiO structural vacancies but is less favorable than the ordered Ti₅O₅ phase. The stability of the disordered phase increases with the oxygen content.     

钛铝合金高温氧化机理电子理论研究

为了从电子层面揭示钛铝合金高温氧化的物理本质,采用递归法与Castep相结合的方式, 计算了原子埋置能、亲和能、结合能等电子结构参数,探索合金氧化机理.研究表明: 氧在钛中有较大固溶度,氧原子可以在钛表面的基体内聚集,逐步向深层扩散. 氧与钛具备较强的亲和力,能形成钛的氧化膜.钛基体中铝原子间具有相互吸引力, 能形成铝的原子团簇.铝原子团簇中的钛原子间相互排斥与铝形成化合物. 铝、钛与氧的亲和能相近,不易发生铝的优先氧化,而是同时生成钛的氧化物和铝的氧化物. Al₂O₃比TiO₂的结合能略低,因而更加稳定,铝在TiO₂中有较大的固溶度, 能替换其中的钛形成更稳定的Al₂O₃氧化物.     

Investigation of the photoelectronic properties of nanocrystalline carbon- and nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide

This paper reports the results of the study of photoelectronic properties of nanocrystalline titanium dioxide doped with carbon and nitrogen. Photo-generated paramagnetic radicals were detected and identified in nanocrystalline titanium dioxide by the electron paramagnetic-resonance method. The concentrations of the radicals versus the carbon and oxygen content were determined in the dark and under light exposure. The presence of C and CO ₂ ^? -radicals in carbon-doped titanium dioxide and mainly N and NO radicals in nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide is shown. The concentration of the radicals increases under light exposure, which indicates the recharging processes of electronic states in the bandgap, due to the presence of a dopant, accompanied by generation of paramagnetic particles. The electron paramagnetic resonance data correlate with the kinetics of formaldehyde decomposition on the titanium dioxide samples under study.     

Effects of native defects on the electronic structure and photocatalytic activity in anatase TiO2 by first principles calculations

The crystal structure, electronic structure, optical properties and photocatalytic activity of the native defects in anatase TiO₂ were investigated based on the density-functional theory (DFT). The results show that oxygen vacancies (V_O) have the lowest formation energy, and thus are easiest to form in the bulk structure. The conduction and valence band moves to the high or low energy region, and the energy gap becomes narrower for the native point defect models. In particular, oxygen interstitials (O_i) have a direct band gap, and new gap states appear in the band gap, which can be responsible for the high photocatalytic efficiency in anatase TiO₂. The phenomenon of “impurity compensation” takes place for the oxygen and titanium interstitials. Ti vacancy (V_Ti) can promote the utilization of solar light by analyzing the absorption spectra. All the calculated results show that O_i and V_Ti are beneficial in improving the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ in the UV–visible light range.     

Electronic structures and optical properties of rutile TiO2 with different point defects from DFT + U calculations

The electronic states and formation energies of four types of lattice point defects in rutile TiO₂ are studied using the first-principles calculations. The existence of oxygen vacancy leads to a deep donor defect level in the forbidden band, while the Ti interstitial forms two local states. It is predicted that oxygen vacancy prefers to combine with Ti-interstitial to form V_O–Ti_i dimer by a partial 3d electron transfer from the Ti_i to its neighboring V_O. The charge distribution between a Ti interstitial and its neighboring Ti ions partially shields the Coulomb interactions. Lastly, optical properties of these defective lattices are discussed.     

Influence of tungsten doping concentration on the electronic and optical properties of anatase TiO2

The structural, electronic and optical properties of tungsten-doped TiO₂ have been investigated using density functional theory with plane wave basis sets and ultrasoft pseuodopotential. Substitutional W doping at Ti sites create W 5d states just below the conduction band minimum while interstitial W doping gives isolated W 5d states in the middle of forbidden region. Averaged bond lengths show that W doping at Ti sites produce minimum structural distortion as compared to the interstitial W-doped TiO₂. Substitutional W-doped TiO₂ has better visible light absorption compared to interstitial W-doped TiO₂ and has stable configuration which provide reasonable explanation for the experimental findings. Tungsten doping in TiO₂ with different doping concentrations is investigated as an enabling concept for enhancing the visible light absorption. Optical properties show that optimal W doping concentration would improve the visible light absorption. 2.08% W doping concentration gives strong visible and ultraviolet light absorption among all doped models found consistent with experiments.     

First‐principles study of the electronic structure and the associated magnetism of carbon‐doped TiO2

Based on first‐principles calculations, the electronic structure and the associated magnetism of carbon‐doped rutile TiO₂ have been investigated in the frame of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). We find that the carbon substitutional oxygen ions can induce a magnetic moment of about 2.0µ_B/C, but the carbon substitutional titanium cannot provide any magnetism. Graphics of the spin density show that the magnetism is from the structure distortion around the carbon substitutional oxygen ions in the (110) plane of primitive TiO₂. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Electronic structure of titanium monoxide with randomly distributed vacancies

The electronic structure of titanium monoxide TiO _y (0.810 ≤ y ≤ 1.262) in the high-temperature cubic phase with vacancies randomly distributed over the titanium and oxygen sublattices is calculated in the coherent potential approximation. The changes in the electronic spectra with the concentration of vacancies are retraced. The calculated spectra are compared to the available experimental data.     

Enhanced photocatalytic performance of TiO2 nanowires by substituting noble metal particles with reduced graphene oxide

Noble metal particles have been embedded in semiconductors to improve photocatalysis efficiently, but the high cost made this approach difficult to apply widely in industry. Herein titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide (TiO₂/rGO) nanowires in a core-shell structure were prepared. The physicochemical properties and photocatalytic performance of the specimen were characterized in comparison with TiO₂ and TiO₂/Pt nanowires. The rGO layer and Pt nanoparticles increased chemical states of the components, reduced bandgap energy of the nanowires, enhanced visible light absorption, improved conductance and capacitance significantly. The methylene blue as catalyzed by TiO₂/Pt and TiO₂/rGO nanowires was degraded to 7.9% and 8.4% in an hour, but retained 25.7% by the TiO₂ nanowires. The properties and function of TiO₂/rGO nanowires were close to those of TiO₂/Pt nanowires, while the rGO price was much lower than that of Pt, which was of great significance for the photocatalytic application of TiO₂ heterojunction materials in industry.     

Electronic structure of a single oxygen vacancy in rutile TiO2

Summary I report calculations of the electronic structure of an ideal (undistorted) oxygen vacancy in rutile TiO₂ using the equation-of-motion method. I use a full phenomenological tight-binding Hamiltonian due to Vos to describe the electronic structure. The bulk band structure is also discussed in detail using the traditional Green’s-function method. I illustrate an efficient way to calculate the perfect-crystal Green’s-function matrix elements for any structure, including those that belong to non-symmorphic space groups. The results show that the oxygen vacancy in rutile TiO₂ results in deeply localized states in its vicinty.     

锐钛矿型TiO2(101)面原子几何及弛豫结构的第一性原理计算

采用平面波超软赝势方法计算了锐钛矿型TiO₂(101)面的表面能和表面原子弛豫结构.首先对TiO₂(101)面的6种不同的表面原子终止结构的体系总能量进行了计算,结果表明终止原子为两配位的O原子、次层为五配位的Ti原子的表面结构最为稳定.针对该表面研究了表面能和原子弛豫与模型中原子层数和真空厚度的关系,当原子层数为12层,真空厚度为0.4nm时,表面能收敛度小于0.01J/m².研究发现:表面上两配位的O原子向里移动约0.0012nm,五配 关键词： 第一性原理 2')" href="#">TiO₂ 表面结构 弛豫     

SCF MS Xα determination of ionization energies and atomic populations of octaedral TiO-86 cluster

The ionization energies of titanium and oxygen states in BaTiO₃ crystal have been investigated through the self-consistent-field-Xα-scattered-wave (SCF MS Xα) method, with the Slater transition state model, applied to a TiO^?8₆ cluster of octaedral symmetry. Ionization energies and electronic charge distribution are compared to XPS data and related to results obtained from tight-binding band computations.     

Investigation of structural vacancies in titanium monoxide by electron-positron annihilation

Local atomic environment of vacancies in nonstoichiometric titanium monoxide ranging in composition from TiO_0.74 to TiO_1.26 was studied by electron-positron annihilation. Analysis of the Doppler broadening spectra of the annihilation gamma line for titanium and liquid oxygen showed that positrons in titanium monoxide are trapped by titanium vacancies. Experiments revealed that the lifetime of positrons in ordered and disordered titanium monoxide TiO _y increases with increasing oxygen content y and varies from 184 to 210 ps. Data on the valence electron density permitted the prediction that the lifetime of free positrons in stoichiometric titanium monoxide is about 140 ps and the lifetime of positrons localized in an oxygen vacancy is about 170 ps. The method used to analyze the gamma-line Doppler broadening spectra makes it possible to determine the type and number of atoms around a vacancy and to investigate order-disorder phase transformations in nonstoichiometric compounds.     

Mo-X(B, C, N, O, F)共掺杂TiO2体系的光催化协同效应研究

采用密度泛函理论平面波超软赝势方法, 计算并分析了Mo/X(B, C, N, O, F)共掺杂TiO₂体系的形成能、电子结构和光学性质, 研究了共掺杂协同效应对于计算体系光催化性能的影响机制. 首先计算出不同掺杂体系的态密度及能带结构, 利用能带理论分析了共掺杂效应对于禁带宽度的调控作用, 进而分析了共掺杂对TiO₂光催化能力和稳定性的协同作用. 结合电荷密度图, 分析原子间的电荷转移情况, 得到计算体系中各原子成键状态. 最后, 结合光吸收谱线分析得出Mo/C共掺杂类型在调制TiO₂体系中可见光波段的光催化性能上优势明显, 在催化作用上表现出协同效应. 本文的理论研究对共掺杂方法在TiO₂光催化领域有着一定的指导意义.     

First-principle calculations of structural and electronic properties of rutile-phase dioxides (MO<Subscript>2</Subscript>), M = Ti,V, Ru,Ir and Sn

First principle calculations using density functional theory (DFT) and full-potential linearized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW) method are performed to investigate the structural and electronic properties of rutile phase titanium, vanadium, ruthenium, iridium and tin dioxides, TiO₂, VO₂, RuO₂, IrO₂, and SnO₂, respectively. The exchange correlation function is described using the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The structural parameters of the dioxides are found to be in a fair agreement with experimental values and previous calculations. TiO₂ exhibits the maximum cohesive energy and RuO₂ exhibits the minimum, which is opposite to the trend of pure bulk metals. Titanium dioxide in the left of the periodic table exhibits an insulating behavior with an underestimated bandgap of 2 eV. As the d-band filling increases in VO₂, the energy bands shift by 3 eV from those of TiO₂ to cross the Fermi level and exhibit a metallic behavior with a pseudo gap to the right of the Fermi level. The energy bands coalescence in RuO₂ and IrO₂ exhibiting metallic behaviors. However, for a complete filled d-band SnO₂, the insulating behavior is retrieved. The distortion of the octahedrons in the rutile structure lifts the degeneracy of the e_g orbitals causing further splittings.     

Surface state of TiO2 treated with low ion energy plasma

The effect of low pressure radio frequency (rf) plasma treatment on TiO₂ surface states has been studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Three different oxidation states of oxygen in untreated TiO₂ powder were observed, which suggests the existence of adsorbed water and carbon on the surface. The ratio of oxygen to titanium (O/Ti) was decreased for the low ion dose plasma treated samples due to desorption of water from the surface. In the case of Ti 2p about 20% of surface states were converted to Ti³⁺ 2p_3/2 state after plasma treatment with a very good stability, whereas untreated TiO₂ remained mostly as Ti⁴⁺ state. A rapid decrease in the ratio of carbon to titanium (C/Ti) at TiO₂ surface was also observed after plasma treatment and more than 90% of carbon atoms were removed from the surface. Therefore, the plasma treatment of TiO₂ has advantages to surface carbon cleaning, increasing O⁻ and Ti³⁺ surface states, hence improving the activity of TiO₂ for different environmental, energy and biological applications.     

Magnéli相亚氧化钛Ti8O15的电子结构和光学性能的第一性原理研究

采用基于密度泛函理论的平面波超软赝势法研究了Magnéli相亚氧化钛Ti₈O₁₅的电子结构和光学性能. 计算出的能带结构显示Ti₈O₁₅相比锐钛型TiO₂禁带宽度大幅度降低. 态密度分析表明, 其原因在于Ti₈O₁₅的O原子的2p轨道以及Ti原子的3p, 3d轨道相对于TiO₂的相应轨道向左产生了偏移, 同时由于O原子的缺失使得Ti原子的3d, 3p轨道多余电子在Fermi能级附近聚集形成新的电子能级. 态密度分析结果还显示, 相对于TiO₂, Ti₈O₁₅ Fermi能级附近电子格局发生了如下变化: O原子的2p轨道电子贡献减少, Ti原子的3d轨道的电子对Fermi能级贡献增大. 光吸收计算图谱表明, TiO₂仅在紫外光区有较高的光吸收能力, 而Ti₈O₁₅由于禁带宽度变窄引起光吸收范围红移到可见光区, 从而在紫外光区和可见光区都有较高的光吸收能力, 计算结果与实验得到的紫外-可见漫反射吸收光谱结果一致. 关键词： 第一性原理 8O₁₅')" href="#">Magnéli相亚氧化钛Ti₈O₁₅ 电子结构 光学性能     

Electronic structure and enhanced visible‐light absorption of N,B‐codoped TiO2

We present GGA+U calculations to investigate the electronic structure and visible‐light absorption of N,B‐codoped anatase TiO₂. The N_sB_i (substitutional N, interstitial B) codoped TiO₂ produces significant Ti 3d and N 2p mid‐gap states when the distance of N and B atoms is far, whereas the N_iB_i (interstitial N and B) and N_sB_s (substitutional N and B) codoped TiO₂ prefer to form localized p states at 0.3–1.2 eV above the valence band maximum. Further, the optical band edges of the three codoped systems shift slightly to the visible region, but only the far‐distance N_sB_i codoped TiO₂ clearly shows an optical transition. These results indicate that N_sB_i codoped TiO₂ has a dominant contribution to the optical absorption of N,B‐codoped TiO₂. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

P掺杂锐钛矿相TiO2的第一性原理计算

利用基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理对不同P掺杂形式(P替位Ti, P替位O, 间隙P)的锐钛矿相TiO₂的晶格常数、电荷布居、能带结构、分态密度和吸收光谱进行了计算. 结果表明, P替位Ti时, TiO₂体积减小, P替位O和间隙P的存在使TiO₂的体积膨胀; 替位Ti的P和间隙P均有不同程度的氧化, 而替位O的P带有负电荷. 三种P掺杂形式均导致锐钛矿相TiO₂禁带宽度的增大, 并在TiO₂禁带之内引入了掺杂局域能级. P掺杂导致TiO₂禁带宽度增大的程度依次为: 间隙P>P替位Ti>P替位O. 吸收光谱的计算结果表明, P替位Ti并不能增强TiO₂的可见光吸收能力, 但间隙P的存在大幅提高了TiO₂的可见光光吸收能力, 间隙P有可能是造成实验上P掺杂增强锐钛矿相TiO₂光催化活性的重要原因. 关键词： P掺杂 2')" href="#">锐钛矿相TiO₂ 第一性原理