From titanium oxydifluoride (TiOF2) to titania (TiO2): phase transition and non-metal doping with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) evolution propertiesf

摘要

Single-crystalline TiOF2 crystals with cubical morphology were prepared via a facile solvothermal method and their transformation to anatase TiO2 under different calcination conditions such as pure argon, moist argon and pure hydrogen sulfide (H2S) was explored by using XRD/Raman/UV-Vis/SEM/TEM/SAED. The non-metal sulfur doping was successfully fulfilled and the doped TiO2 microcubes showed the best photocatalytic H2 evolution property. Considering the conventional H2 production, which has great reliance on depleting fossil fuels and suffers from the carbon dioxide emission issue, direct splitting of water using a particulate semiconductor photocatalyst under sun light irradi-