High photocatalytic activity of carbon doped TiO2 prepared by fast combustion of organic capping ligands

Yijun Yang; Dawei Ni; Ye Yao; Yeteng Zhong; Ying Ma; Jiannian Yao

doi:10.1039/C5RA19058D

High photocatalytic activity of carbon doped TiO₂ prepared by fast combustion of organic capping ligands†

Yijun Yang,^a Dawei Ni,^b Ye Yao,^b Yeteng Zhong,^a Ying Ma*^b and Jiannian Yao*^a

* Corresponding authors

^a Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Science, Key Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
E-mail: jnyao@iccas.ac.cn

^b State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Material Sciences and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China
E-mail: yingma@hust.edu.cn

Abstract

Carbon doping has been widely applied to modify TiO₂ to improve photocatalytic activity and initiate visible light activity. Using oleylamine wrapped TiO₂ nanomaterials as precursor, carbon doped TiO₂ photocatalysts have been synthesized by control of heating ramp rates and temperatures in air. Optical absorption of all these photocatalysts are extended to visible light, and photogenerated electron–hole separation is enhanced by carbon doping. Especially, those prepared by fast combustion of oleylamine ligands exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity and visible light activity for hydrogen production. EPR analysis demonstrates that more oxygen vacancies present in carbon doped TiO₂ with high activity. This indicates that oxygen vacancies may play key roles in photocatalytic water splitting. Fast heating process may have offered an oxygen-poor atmosphere in which oxygen vacancies are favoured.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA19058D
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 16 Sep 2015
Accepted: 26 Oct 2015
First published: 26 Oct 2015

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RSC Adv., 2015,5, 93635-93643

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High photocatalytic activity of carbon doped TiO₂ prepared by fast combustion of organic capping ligands

Y. Yang, D. Ni, Y. Yao, Y. Zhong, Y. Ma and J. Yao, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 93635 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA19058D

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