Carbon coating stabilized Ti3+-doped TiO2 for photocatalytic hydrogen generation under visible light irradiation

Gao Fu; Peng Zhou; Meiming Zhao; Weidong Zhu; Shicheng Yan; Tao Yu; Zhigang Zou

doi:10.1039/C5DT01204J

Carbon coating stabilized Ti³⁺-doped TiO₂ for photocatalytic hydrogen generation under visible light irradiation†

Gao Fu,^a Peng Zhou,^a Meiming Zhao,^b Weidong Zhu,^a Shicheng Yan,*^bcd Tao Yu*^acd and Zhigang Zou^abcd

* Corresponding authors

^a National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures & Ecomaterials and Renewable Energy Research Center (ERERC) at Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China
E-mail: yutao@nju.edu.cn

^b College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, P. R. China
E-mail: yscfei@nju.edu.cn

^c Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China

^d Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Nano Technology, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China

Abstract

Self-doping by Ti³⁺ is a useful method to expand the light response of TiO₂ into the visible light region. However, to obtain a stable Ti³⁺-doped TiO₂ seems to be a challenge due to the easy oxidation of Ti³⁺ during the heterogeneous reaction. Here, we propose a simple carbon coating route to stabilize the Ti³⁺-doped TiO₂, in which both the Ti³⁺ and precursor of the carbon coating layer were in situ formed from the hydrothermal hydrolysis of titanium isopropoxide. The carbon coated Ti³⁺-doped TiO₂ exhibited excellent stability for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Based on electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis, the proposed stabilizing mechanism is that the conductive carbon coating layer as a barrier layer prevents the H₂O and O₂ from diffusing into the surface of the photocatalyst, which can oxidize the surface O vacancies and Ti³⁺ in TiO₂. Our findings offer a simple route to prepare a highly stable TiO₂-based photocatalyst with visible light response.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C5DT01204J
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 27 Mar 2015
Accepted: 27 May 2015
First published: 29 May 2015

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Dalton Trans., 2015,44, 12812-12817

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Carbon coating stabilized Ti³⁺-doped TiO₂ for photocatalytic hydrogen generation under visible light irradiation

G. Fu, P. Zhou, M. Zhao, W. Zhu, S. Yan, T. Yu and Z. Zou, Dalton Trans., 2015, 44, 12812 DOI: 10.1039/C5DT01204J

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