Raman study of phase transformation of TiO2 rutile single crystal irradiated by infrared femtosecond laser

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) rutile single crystal was irradiated by infrared femtosecond (fs) laser pulses with repetition rate of 250 kHz and phase transformation of rutile TiO₂ was observed. Micro-Raman spectra show that the intensity of E_g Raman vibrating mode of rutile phase increases and that of A_1g Raman vibrating mode decreases apparently within the ablation crater after fs laser irradiation. With increasing of irradiation time, the Raman vibrating modes of anatase phase emerged. Rutile phase of TiO₂ single crystal is partly transformed into anatase phase. The anatase phase content transformed from rutile phase increased to a constant with increasing of fs pulse laser irradiation time. The study indicates the more stable rutile phase is transformed into anatase phase by the high pressure produced by fs pulse laser irradiation.     

Phase transformation at the surface of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> single crystal irradiated by femtosecond laser pulse

Phase transformation of a titanium oxide crystal irradiated by a femtosecond laser from rutile to anatase was studied by Raman spectroscopy. In the case of the high temperature phase of TiO₂ single crystal rutile, irradiated by the 120 fs, 800 nm, 250 kHz femtosecond laser with an average power of 300 mW for a short time, the intensity of Raman active mode E_g (446 cm^-1) of TiO₂ would decrease, while that of A_1g (611 cm^-1) increased, which indicated the color-center-defect-cluster was formed. After the longer irradiation time (less than 600 s), four new Raman active modes would occur, so a part of rutile in the irradiated region was transformed into anatase phase. As the irradiation time increased, the component of anatase increased to a constant, while that of rutile decreased. By this means, we can selectively induce anatase on the rutile surface through controlling the femtosecond laser exposure region. We suggest that this technique can be applied to fabricate micro patterns of anatase. PACS 52.38.Dx; 36.20.Ng; 36.40.Ei; 42.62.-b; 42.65.Dr     

Sub-wavelength surface structures on silicon irradiated by femtosecond laser pulses at 1300 and 2100 nm wavelengths

We present periodic ripples and arrays of protrusions formed on the surface of silicon after irradiation by low-fluence linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulses. Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) are observed for irradiation at center wavelengths of 800, ∼ 1300, and ∼ 2100 nm, with the structure periods somewhat less than the incident wavelengths in air. Additionally, we observe structures with spatial periods substantially less than the incident laser wavelengths. These sub-wavelength periodic structures form only when the photon energy is less than the silicon bandgap energy. We discuss a number of factors which may contribute to the generation of this surface morphology.     

Investigation on the sonocatalytic degradation of acid red B in the presence of nanometer TiO2 catalysts and comparison of catalytic activities of anatase and rutile TiO2 powders

Here, the nanometer anatase and rutile titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) powders were introduced to act as the sonocatalysts during the ultrasonic degradation of azo dye-acid red B which was chosen as model compound. The ultrasound of low power was used as an irradiation source to induce TiO(2) particles performing catalytic activity. It was found that the processes of sonocatalytic degradation were different between nanometer anatase TiO(2) and nanometer rutile TiO(2). For nanometer anatase TiO(2) catalyst, the acid red B was mainly oxidated by the holes on the surface of nanometer anatase TiO(2) particles, so that the decolorization and degradation happened at the same time. For the nanometer rutile TiO(2) catalyst, the acid red B was mainly oxidated by the *OH radicals from the ultrasonic cavitation, so that the decolorization of azo bond takes place primarily, and then the degradation of naphthyl ring does. The intermediates of acid red B in the presence of nanometer anatase and rutile TiO(2) powders have been monitored by UV-vis spectra and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), respectively. All experiments indicated that the degradation effect of acid red B in the presence of nanometer anatase TiO(2) powder was obviously better than that in the presence of nanometer rutile TiO(2) powder. Hence, the method of sonocatalytic degradation for organic pollutants in the presence of nanometer anatase TiO(2) powder is expected to be promising as an advisable choice for the treatment of organic wastewaters in future.     

镧系元素掺杂TiO_2的电子和光学特性的第一性原理计算

基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理局部密度近似法,结合Hubbard U校正(LDA+U),研究了镧系元素掺杂的锐钛矿型TiO_2的取代能、热力学电荷跃迁能级和光学性质.除La之外的所有镧系元素,在掺杂时向主带隙中引入杂质态.所得取代能表明了镧系元素掺杂TiO_2的可行性.同时预测了最佳掺杂比例约为3%,由Ce、Nd、Sm、Gd或Tm掺杂引入的掺杂能级具有负U特性.另外,所得热力学跃迁能级预测了Lu在主带隙内不发生电荷跃迁.算出的光吸收系数表明镧系元素掺杂可使TiO_2具有可见光吸收性能.     

飞秒激光诱导二氧化钛金红石单晶相变的拉曼光谱研究

利用显微拉曼光谱仪研究了近红外飞秒激光脉冲诱导二氧化钛金红石单晶所引起的相变。实验发现当激光的平均功率为300 mW时,随着辐照时间的增加,金红石相的Eg模式强度增强,而A1g模式强度减弱,由此得出激光诱导晶体产生了色心;辐照时间为10 s时,锐钛矿相出现;并且随着辐照时间的增加,锐钛矿相的拉曼振动模式强度增强,金红石相的减弱。然而当辐照时间确定为1/63 s时,随着激光功率的增加,金红石Eg模式强度与A1g模式强度的比值增加,而没有锐钛矿相出现。     

Anatase-rutile phase transformation of titanium dioxide bulk material: a DFT?+?U approach

The anatase-rutile phase transformation of TiO(2) bulk material is investigated using a density functional theory (DFT) approach in this study. According to the calculations employing the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange-correlation functional with the Vanderbilt ultrasoft pseudopotential, it is suggested that the anatase phase is more energetically stable than rutile, which is in variance with the experimental observations. Consequently, the DFT?+?U method is employed in order to predict the correct structural stability in titania from electronic-structure-based total energy calculations. The Hubbard U term is determined by examining the band structure of rutile with various values of U from 3 to 10?eV. At U?=?5?eV, a theoretical bandgap for rutile is obtained as 3.12?eV, which is in very good agreement with the reported experimental bandgap. Hence, we choose the DFT?+?U method (with U?=?5?eV) to investigate the transformation pathway using the newly-developed solid-state nudged elastic band (ss-NEB) method, and consequently obtain an intermediate transition structure that is 9.794?eV per four-TiO(2) above the anatase phase. When the Ti-O bonds in the transition state are examined using charge density analysis, seven Ti-O bonds (out of 24 bonds in the anatase unit cell) are broken, and this result is in excellent agreement with a previous experimental study (Penn and Banfield 1999 Am. Miner. 84 871-6).     

The optical absorption edge of brookite TiO2

The optical absorption edge of brookite TiO₂ was measured at room temperature, using natural crystals. The measurements extend up to 3.54 eV in photon energy and 2000 cm⁻¹ in absorption coefficient. The observed absorption edge is broad and extends throughout the visible, quite different from the steep edges of rutile and anatase. No evidence of a direct gap is seen in the range measured. The spectral dependence of the absorption strongly suggests that the brookite form of TiO₂ is an indirect-gap semiconductor with a bandgap of about 1.9 eV.     

双金属/TiO2纳米管复合结构中增强的光电流

将传统半导体材料与金属微纳结构相结合,利用其表面等离激元共振效应,可有效地增强复合结构的光电转换效率,使其广泛地被用于光电化学和光电探测等领域.本文以氧化铝纳米管为模板,采用原子层沉积技术制备出高有序的TiO2纳米管,并通过电子束热蒸发技术在大孔径的纳米管薄膜中分别负载金、铝和双金属金/铝纳米颗粒,形成金属纳米颗粒/TiO2纳米管复合结构.研究结果表明,相对于纯TiO2纳米管,Au/TiO2复合纳米管在568 nm的可见光照射下,其光电流密度约有400%的提高;在365 nm紫外光照射下,Al/TiO2复合纳米管的光电流提高约50%;同时负载双金属Au和Al纳米颗粒的TiO2纳米管在整个紫外-可见光区域光电流均显著增强.     

Observation of carbon‐facilitated phase transformation of titanium dioxide forming mixed‐phase titania by confocal Raman microscopy

Confocal Raman microscopy, a relatively new and advanced technique, is found to be suitable for imaging the chemical morphology below the submicrometer scale. It has been employed to probe the phase transformation of carbon‐containing titania (TiO₂) nanopowder and titania thin film subjected to laser annealing. The observation of phase transformation from the anatase phase to the rutile phase at high laser power annealing is attributed to carbon inclusion inside or on the surface of titania. Upon annealing, carbon could react with the oxygen of titania and create oxygen vacancies favoring the transformation from the anatase to the rutile phase. This study provides evidence for the carbon‐assisted phase transformation for creating carbon‐containing mixed‐phase titanium dioxide by laser annealing. We explicitly focus on the presence of carbon in the phase transformation of TiO₂ using confocal Raman microscopy. In all of the investigated samples, mixed anatase/rutile phases with carbon specifically was found at the rutile site. X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy‐dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) studies have been performed in addition to Raman mapping to verify the mixed‐phase titania formation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamics of the processes of electron-hole recombination and capture of charge carriers in anatase doped with boron, carbon, or nitrogen

The first-principles investigation of the processes of nonradiative recombination of electron-hole pairs and binding of excited charge carriers with impurity atoms in anatase doped with boron, carbon, or nitrogen has been carried out using the perturbation theory method. The perturbation is provided by a dynamically screened electron-electron interaction potential calculated in the random phase approximation. It has been shown that the most probable processes occurring upon doping with boron and carbon are exchange processes in which electrons are bound with the impurity atom, whereas the most probable processes observed upon doping with nitrogen are exchange processes in which holes are bound with the impurity atom. These processes occur within a time interval of shorter than 2 fs. The next in probability are the processes of energy losses by unbound electrons and holes due to the generation of phonons. For the case of nitrogen doping, the time of this process is estimated at approximately 300 fs. For excitons formed in this case, the luminescence photon energy and the binding energy of electrons or holes with the impurity atom are estimated. The agreement between the calculated data and the results of experiments on the photocatalysis proceeding on the surface of N-doped anatase is discussed.     

Size regulation by bandgap-controlled etching: Application to germanium nanoparticles

A germanium (Ge) nanoparticle surface was etched in an aqueous solution under monochromatic light irradiation in the infrared-to-ultraviolet region. Since the bandgap widened up to the photon energy of the irradiating light, the average size of the nanoparticles was controlled and the size distribution narrowed. The quantum size effect explained the correlation between the resulting bandgap energy and the final size. The etched nanoparticles showed blue-green or red-infrared photoluminescence (PL) after the surfaces were terminated with organic molecules or hydrogen atoms. The PL peak energy was independent of size, indicating PL was due to radiative recombination via localized states at the Ge core surface.     

Oxygen defect dependent variation of band gap,Urbach energy and luminescence property of anatase,anatase–rutile mixed phase and of rutile phases of TiO2 nanoparticles

TiO₂ nanoparticles are prepared by a sol–gel method and annealed both in air and vacuum at different temperatures to obtain anatase, anatase–rutile mixed phase and rutile TiO₂ nanoparticles. The phase conversion from anatase to anatase–rutile mixed phase and to rutile phase takes place via interface nucleation between adjoint anatase nanocrystallites and annealing temperature and defects take the initiate in this phase transformation. The samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). Anatase TiO₂ exhibits a defect related absorption hump in the visible region, which is otherwise absent in the air annealed samples. The Urbach energy is very high in the vacuum annealed and in the anatase–rutile mixed phase TiO₂. Vacuum annealed anatase TiO₂ has the lowest emission intensity, whereas an intense emission is seen in its air annealed counterpart. The oxygen vacancies in the vacuum annealed samples act as non-radiative recombination centers and quench the emission intensity. Oxygen deficient anatase TiO₂ has the longest carrier lifetime. Time resolved spectroscopy measurement shows that the oxygen vacancies act as efficient trap centers of electrons and reduce the recombination time of the charge carriers.     

飞秒强激光对二氧化钛金红石晶体相变的影响

该文章报道了利用显微激光拉曼光谱仪研究近红外飞秒强激光脉冲诱导二氧化钛金红石单晶所引起的相变.实验辐照时间为60s,当激光辐照平均功率增加时,锐钛矿相的拉曼振动模式强度增强,金红石相的拉曼振动模式强度减弱.通过金红石相和锐钛矿相粉体等拉曼光谱的实验,肯定了随着辐照激光功率的增大,.可以通过拉曼光谱中锐钛矿A1g B1g(515 cm-1)振动模式标志峰和金红石相Eg(445 cm-1)振动标志峰分别对应面积的比判断其相变量.     

Photocatalytic activity of bulk TiO2 anatase and rutile single crystals using infrared absorption spectroscopy

A systematic study on the photocatalytic activity of well-defined, macroscopic bulk single-crystal TiO(2) anatase and rutile samples has been carried out, which allows us to link photoreactions at surfaces of well-defined oxide semiconductors to an important bulk property with regard to photochemistry, the life time of e-h pairs generated in the bulk of the oxides by photon absorption. The anatase (101) surface shows a substantially higher activity, by an order of magnitude, for CO photo-oxidation to CO(2) than the rutile (110) surface. This surprisingly large difference in activity tracks the bulk e-h pair lifetime difference for the two TiO(2) modifications as determined by contactless transient photoconductance measurements on the corresponding bulk materials.     

纳米金红石TiO2光催化剂的水解合成及其性能

采用水解法在323 K制备了比表面积较大的纳米金红石TiO₂光催化剂,并通过X射线衍射（XRD）、BET比表面积测试法、紫外-可见吸收光谱（UV-Vis）、红外光谱（IR）和光电化学（PEC）测量对纳米光催化剂进行了表征。以甲基橙为光催化反应的模型化合物,在比表面积相近的条件下,对纳米金红石和锐钛矿TiO₂光催化剂的光催化活性进行了评价。光催化实验结果表明：比表面积为～95 m2·g-1时,比表面积相近的金红石和锐钛矿的紫外光催化活性相当, 但金红石的可见光催化活性明显高于锐钛矿的可见光催化活性。光电化学实验表明: 在紫外光照射下催化剂的光电流密度从弱到强的顺序与其紫外光催化活性从低到高的次序一致。     

On the mechanism of the absorption of femtosecond laser pulses in the melting and ablation of Si and GaAs

The melting and ablation thresholds have been measured for Si and GaAs irradiated by 1240-nm femtosecond pulses of a chromium-forsterite laser, i.e., when the photon energy is lower than the bandgap width. A small difference of these quantities from the respective melting and ablation thresholds measured for the action of the 620-nm second-harmonic pulses with a photon energy higher than the bandgap width cannot be explained using available theoretical models. A new approach to the mechanism of the appearance of the electron-hole plasma and the formation of a thin, strongly absorbing surface layer in semiconductors irradiated by femtosecond laser pulses of the visible and infrared spectral ranges has been proposed on the basis of the avalanche mechanism of the filling of the conduction band.     

三元P3HT:PTB7-Th:PCBM聚合物太阳能电池性能的研究

将窄带隙聚合物PTB7-Th作为第三种物质掺入到P3HT:PCBM中制备了双给体结构的三元聚合物太阳能电池, 并且通过改变PTB7-Th的浓度来研究PTB7-Th对器件性能的影响. 研究发现, 掺入PTB7-Th后, 聚合物太阳能电池的短路电流和填充因子同时获得了提高, 使器件的光电转换效率得到了改善. 进一步分析表明, PTB7-Th的加入能够拓宽活性层的吸收光谱, 增加活性层吸收的光子数目, 有利于短路电流的提升. PTB7-Th与P3HT之间以电荷转移的形式相互作用, 这种作用方式有利于激子的解离, 从而使器件的填充因子得到了提高.     

Reactive dye degradation by combined Fe(III)/TiO2 catalyst and ultrasonic irradiation: Effect of Fe(III) loading and calcination temperature

The development of Fe(III)/TiO(2) catalysts for sonocatalytic degradation of Reactive Blue 4 (RB4) dye in water was carried out using sol-gel method. Their surface morphology, phase transformation and surface characteristics were studied using SEM, XRD and surface analyzer, respectively. Phase transformation from amorphous to anatase occurred at 500°C and transformation of anatase to rutile phase occurred at 700°C. Complete rutile phase was formed at 900°C with corresponding increase in the particle size. Increasing in Fe(III) loading led to a reduction in the anatase phase and with the formation of weaker and broader of diffraction peaks. Surface morphology of the prepared catalyst was clearly observed with increasing calcination temperature. Surface area of the prepared catalyst decreased with increasing calcination temperature or increasing Fe(III) loading. The combination of 0.4 mol% of Fe(III)/TiO(2) with ultrasonic irradiation gave the highest sonocatalytic activity in the removal of RB4 from the aqueous solution. On the other hand, the presence of even small amount of rutile inhibited the catalytic activity of catalyst. 1.5 g/L was the optimum amount of catalyst that led to the highest sonocatalytic degradation of RB4 with an efficiency of 90%. Aeration significantly accelerated the reaction rate. Higher removal at 96% could be achieved with the combination of 0.4Fe(III)/TiO(2) and aeration under ultrasonic irradiation.     

Effect of the excimer laser irradiation on sol–gel derived tungsten–titanium dioxide thin films

A novel technique based on the excimer laser induced crystallization and modification of TiO₂ thin films is being reported. W⁺⁶ ions loaded TiO₂ (WTO) precursor films were prepared by a modified sol–gel method and spin-coated onto microscopic glass slides. Pulsed KrF (248 nm, 13 ns) excimer laser was used to irradiate the WTO amorphous films at various laser parameters. Mesoporous and nanostructured films consisting of anatase and rutile were obtained after laser irradiation at room temperature. The effect of varying W⁺⁶ ions concentrations on structural and optical properties the WTO films was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscope, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and transmission electron microscope before and after laser treatment. Films irradiated for 10 pulses at 65–75 mJ/cm² laser fluence, exhibited anatase whereas higher parameters promoted the formation of rutile. XPS results revealed WO₃ along with minor proportion of WO₂ compounds after laser irradiation. Photo-absorbance of the WTO films was increased with increase in W⁺⁶ ions concentration in the film. TEM results exhibited a crystallite size of 15 nm which was confirmed from SEM results as well.