Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped TiO2 nanosheets with exposed {001} facets: synthesis, characterization and visible-light photocatalytic activity

Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped TiO(2) nanosheets with exposed {001} facets (N-S-TiO(2)) were prepared by a simple mixing-calcination method using the hydrothermally prepared TiO(2) nanosheets powder as a precursor and thiourea as a dopant. The resulting samples were characterized by transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherms, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The electronic properties of N,S co-doped TiO(2) were studied using the first-principle density functional theory (DFT). The photocatalytic activity of N-S-TiO(2) was evaluated by degradation of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. The production of hydroxyl radicals (˙OH) on the surface of visible-light-irradiated samples was detected by photoluminescence technique using terephthalic acid as a probe molecule. The results show that nitrogen and sulfur atoms were successfully incorporated into the lattice of TiO(2), which resulted in N-S-TiO(2) samples exhibiting stronger absorption in the UV-visible range with a red shift in the band gap transition. The first-principle DFT calculations further confirm that N and S co-dopants can induce the formation of new energy levels in the band gap, which is associated with the response of N-S-TiO(2) nanosheets to visible light irradiation. Surprisingly, pure TiO(2) nanosheets show the visible-light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of 4-CP mainly due to the substrate-surface complexation of TiO(2) and 4-CP, which results in extending absorption of titania to visible light region through ligand-to-titanium charge transfer. The N-S-TiO(2) samples studied exhibited an enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity than pure TiO(2). Especially, the doped TiO(2) sample at the nominal weight ratio of thiourea to TiO(2) powder of 2 showed the highest photocatalytic activity, which was about twice greater than that of Degussa P25. The enhanced activity of N-S-TiO(2) can be primarily attributed to the synergetic effects of two factors including the intense absorption in the visible-light region and the exposure of highly reactive {001} facets of TiO(2) nanosheets. The former is beneficial for the photogeneration of electrons and holes participating in the photocatalytic reactions, and the latter facilitates adsorption of 4-CP molecules on the surface of TiO(2) nanosheets.     

{111}晶面暴露对介孔金红石TiO2单晶光催化产氢的促进作用

光催化反应发生在半导体材料的表面,材料表面的原子/电子结构直接影响光催化剂的活性或选择性。因此,发展具有特定晶面的半导体光催化剂受到各国学者的普遍关注,被认为是调控光催化材料性能的有效途径之一。自2008年yang等首次合成高表面能{001}晶面占优的锐钛矿TiO2单晶以来,控制合成暴露不同晶面TiO2晶体的研究得到了迅猛的发展,已发展了多种方法合成了具有不同晶面的TiO2晶体。研究表明,选择性地暴露特定的活性晶面能够显著地提高光催化剂的活性或者改变光催化反应的选择性。但是,含有完整晶面构型的TiO2单晶样品的颗粒尺寸一般都较大,通常为几微米,因而显著增加了光生载流子传输与分离的难度,并且导致材料较小的比表面积,限制了对光催化活性的进一步提高。能否在合成含特定晶面单晶的同时增加多孔结构成为有效解决这一问题的关键。最近, Crossland等采用晶种模板法成功合成了介孔的锐钛矿TiO2单晶,并且通过光电器件研究证实了采用该思路可进一步提高材料的光电性能。金红石TiO2在光催化全分解水方面具有独特的优势,然而关于多孔单晶金红石TiO2的研究相对较少,尤其是合成热力学不稳定的高表面能{111}晶面完全暴露的多孔金红石单晶面临较大的技术挑战因而一直未见文献报道。本文利用晶种模板法,以TiCl4溶液为含Ti前驱体、NaF为形貌控制剂、采用水热处理制备出不同比例{111}晶面的介孔金红石单晶。我们前期工作表明, NaF可作为形貌控制剂合成低表面能{110)晶面占优的介孔金红石单晶。本文发现,通过改变NaF的添加量,可有效调变{111}/{110}晶面比例,最终合成完全暴露{111}高表面能的介孔金红石TiO2单晶。扫描电镜结果显示,当添加20 mg NaF时,合成{110}占优的具有高长径比的介孔晶体;当NaF用量增加到40 mg时{110}晶面进一步缩短;至80 mg时则制备出{111})高能面完全暴露的金红石TiO2晶体。值得注意的是,对比研究表明,不采用模板合成了与多孔晶体完全相对应的不同{111}/(110}晶面比例的实心金红石晶体。透射电镜及选区电子衍射以及结合X射线衍射进一步证实,多孔的金红石TiO2晶体与实心金红石单晶均都为单晶结构,孔结构贯穿于样品内部且具有较高的晶面结晶性。氮气吸附实验发现,虽然三个不同晶面比例介孔金红石单晶样品间的形貌具有显著的差异,但比表面积非常相近(分别为24,25,28 m2/g),孔径也都为50 nm左右,该值与所用SiO2模板球的直径以及TEM观察结果相一致。光催化产氢性能结果表明,选择性的暴露活性晶面显著提高了光催化活性,仅含高能面{111}的介孔金红石单晶样品具有最高的产氢速率(约800μmol h–1 g–1),比常规{110}晶面占优的介孔单晶样品速率提高了约一倍。尤其比实心单晶样品的产氢速率提高了至少一个数量级,这应归结于介孔结构特性所导致的表面反应活性位增加、电子传输距离缩短以及光吸收增强协同作用的结果。     

Tunable photocatalytic selectivity of TiO2 films consisted of flower-like microspheres with exposed {001} facets

TiO(2) films composed of flower-like TiO(2) microspheres with exposed {001} facets were synthesized by a simple one-pot hydrothermal method and exhibited tunable photocatalytic selectivity towards decomposition of azo dyes in water by modifying the surface of TiO(2) microspheres as well as by varying the degree of etching of {001} facets.     

Nitrogen self-doped nanosized TiO2 sheets with exposed {001} facets for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

Nitrogen self-doped TiO(2) nanosheets with exposed {001} facets (ca. 67%) were synthesized by solvothermal treatment of TiN in a HNO(3)-HF ethanol solution and exhibited much higher visible-light photocatalytic H(2)-production activity than nitrogen doped TiO(2) microcrystallites with exposed {001} facets (ca. 60%) by a factor of 4.1.     

The {001} facets-dependent high photoactivity of BiOCl nanosheets

BiOCl nanosheets (BiOCl NSs) were synthesized by hydrolyzing a hierarchical flowerlike molecular precursor (Bi(n)(Tu)(x)Cl(3n), Tu = thiourea). High photoactivity of {001} facets of BiOCl NSs was observed, and the mechanism was discussed.     

Synthesis of nano-sized anatase TiO2 with reactive {001} facets using lamellar protonated titanate as precursor

Nano-sized anatase TiO(2) with exposed {001} facets was synthesized from lamellar protonated titanate precursor. Owing to small size (ca. 11 nm) and high surface area (155 m(2) g(-1)), the crystals with 26.1% {001} facets exhibited markedly superior photoactivity to reference ca. 76 nm anatase TiO(2) nanosheets with 88.4% {001} facets.     

A simple preparation of nitrogen doped titanium dioxide nanocrystals with exposed (001) facets with high visible light activity

Nanoscaled nitrogen doped anatase TiO(2) with dominant (001) facets, which exhibited high photocatalytic activity and excellent photoelectrochemical properties under visible light irradiation, was successfully synthesized by solvothermal treatment of TiN in acidic NaBF(4) solution for the first time.     

Photocatalytic water oxidation on F, N co-doped TiO2 with dominant exposed {001} facets under visible light

Visible-light-responsive anatase TiO(2) platelets with dominant {001} facets were prepared via a facile nitridation reaction from a TiOF(2) precursor. The in situ co-doping of N and F in the anatase TiO(2) nanoparticles leads to drastically enhanced absorption and excellent water oxidation performance in the visible light region.     

Effect of defects in TiO2 nanoplates with exposed {001} facets on the gas sensing properties

The gas-sensing properties and mechanism of anatase TiO₂ with complete and defective {001} facets were explored and compared, which provides a more direct evidence for the high sensitivity of TiO₂ with the complete {001} crystal facets.     

Solid state precursor strategy for synthesizing hollow TiO2 boxes with a high percentage of reactive {001} facets exposed

Three-dimensional, hollow, anatase TiO(2) boxes, each was enclosed by six single-crystalline TiO(2) plates exposed with highly reactive {001} facets, were facilely obtained by calcining a cubic TiOF(2) solid precursor at 500-600 °C. The formation of such particular nanostructures is attributed to the hard self-template restriction and the adsorption of F(-) ions from the TiOF(2).     

Hierarchical TiO2 microspheres: synergetic effect of {001} and {101} facets for enhanced photocatalytic activity

Well-faceted nanocrystals of anatase TiO(2) with specific reactive facets have attracted extraordinary research interest due to their many intrinsic shape-dependent properties. In this work, hierarchical TiO(2) microspheres consisting of anatase nanosheets or decahedrons were synthesized by means of a facile hydrothermal technique; meanwhile, the percentage of {001} facets can be tuned from 82 to 45%. Importantly, by investigating the photo-oxidation reactions for ˙OH radical generation and photoreduction reactions for hydrogen evolution, the TiO(2) microspheres consisting of nano-decahedrons with 45% {001} facets show superior photoreactivity (more than 4.8-times) compared to the nanosheets with 82% {001} facets. By analyzing the results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence (PL) and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations, a model of charge separation between the well-formed {001} and {101} facets is proposed, and the enhanced photocatalytic efficiency is largely attributed to the efficient separation of photogenerated charges among the crystal facets co-exposed.     

Photocatalytic degradation of sulfadiazine in suspensions of TiO2 nanosheets with exposed (001) facets

Antibiotics such as sulfonamides are widely used in agriculture as growth promoters and medicine in treatment of infectious diseases. However, the release of these antibiotics has caused serious environmental problems. In this paper, photocatalytic oxidation technology was used to degrade sulfadiazine (SDZ), one of the typical sulfonamides antibiotics, in UV illuminated TiO₂ suspensions. It was found that TiO₂ nanosheets (TiO₂-NSs) with exposed (001) facets exhibit much higher photoreactivity towards SDZ degradation compared to TiO₂ nanoparticles (TiO₂-NPs) with a rate constant increases from 0.017 min⁻¹ to 0.035 min⁻¹, improving by a factor of 2.1. Under the attacking of reactive oxygen species (ROSs) such as superoxide radicals (O₂^–) and hydroxyl radicals (OH), SDZ was steady degraded on the surface of TiO₂-NSs. Based on the identification of the produced intermediates by LC–MS/MS, possible degradation pathways of SDZ, which include desulfonation, oxidation and cleavage, were put forwards. After UV irradiation for 4 h, nearly 90% of the total organic carbon (TOC) can be removed in suspensions of TiO₂-NSs, indicating the mineralization of SDZ. TiO₂-NSs also exhibits excellent stability in photocatalytic degradation of SDZ in wide range of pH. Even after recycling used for 7 times, more than 91.3% of the SDZ can be efficiently removed, indicating that they are promising to be practically used in treatment of wastewater containing antibiotics.     

Synthesis and orientational assemblies of MgO nanosheets with exposed (111) facets

Two different orientational assemblies of MgO nanosheets were obtained by tuning the polarity of solvents during the drop deposition method. Different UVvisible diffuse reflectance spectra were recorded and are related to the orientations of the exposed facets.     

Facile synthesis of AgBr nanoplates with exposed {111} facets and enhanced photocatalytic properties

AgBr nanoplates with exposed {111} facets have been synthesized in high yield by a facile precipitation reaction, and the as-prepared nanoplates exhibited greatly enhanced photocatalytic properties for the degradation of organic pollutants, which may be primarily ascribed to the relatively higher surface energy of {111} facets.     

Controlled synthesis and enhanced catalytic and gas-sensing properties of tin dioxide nanoparticles with exposed high-energy facets

A morphology evolution of SnO(2) nanoparticles from low-energy facets (i.e., {101} and {110}) to high-energy facets (i.e., {111}) was achieved in a basic environment. In the proposed synthetic method, octahedral SnO(2) nanoparticles enclosed by high-energy {111} facets were successfully synthesized for the first time, and tetramethylammonium hydroxide was found to be crucial for the control of exposed facets. Furthermore, our experiments demonstrated that the SnO(2) nanoparticles with exposed high-energy facets, such as {221} or {111}, exhibited enhanced catalytic activity for the oxidation of CO and enhanced gas-sensing properties due to their high chemical activity, which results from unsaturated coordination of surface atoms, superior to that of low-energy facets. These results effectively demonstrate the significance of research into improving the physical and chemical properties of materials by tailoring exposed facets of nanomaterials.     

A selective etching phenomenon on {001} faceted anatase titanium dioxide single crystal surfaces by hydrofluoric acid

A selective etching phenomenon on {001} faceted anatase TiO(2) single crystal surfaces by HF and associated etching mechanism are reported. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that HF stabilizes the grown {001} facets at low concentrations, but selectively destroys the grown {001} facets at high concentrations.