Fabricating rutile nanopins on an anatase hollow sphere structure with enhanced photoactivity performance

Abstract

TiO₂ is a promising material for the renewable energy and pollution control field. Hierarchically, structure and phase junction are vitally important to circumvent the limited photo adsorption and charge separation. In this work, we successfully synthesized a hierarchical structure TiO₂ with tunable rutile nanopins on anatase hollow spheres using a facile one-step synthesis method. The phase composition and structure can be controlled by sulfate, chloride ions and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Systematic density functional theory (DFT) was used to study the interface of an anatase/rutile structure and energetic origins of the effects of the sulfate and chloride ions on anatase (101) and rutile (110) surfaces. The atomic junction structure in this work may help to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the interface. The higher photoactivity performance can be attributed to the multi-reflections of electromagnetic waves and efficient charge separation. The hierarchical structure of rutile nanopins at anatase hollow microspheres may have great potential for practical applications.