Hunting for the elusive shallow traps in TiO2 anatase

Abstract

Understanding electron mobility on TiO₂ is crucial because of its applications in photocatalysis and solar cells. This work shows that shallow traps believed to be involved in electron migration in TiO₂ conduction band are formed upon band gap excitation, i.e., are not pre-existing states. The shallow traps in TiO₂ results from large polarons and are not restricted to surface.