Enhanced UV photoactivity of Ti3+ self-doped anatase TiO2 single crystals hydrothermally synthesized using Ti-H2O2-HF reactants

摘要

Colored Ti3+ self-doped TiO2 has been widely studied to achieve visible-light induced photocatalytic activity. In this study, we used a mixed aqueous solution of H2O2 and HF to oxidize metallic Ti powders under a hydrothermal condition, which achieved successfully Ti3+ self-doped anatase TiO2 single crystals. The self-doping level can be tuned simply by adjusting the amount of Ti powders in the reactant. As a photocatalyst to remove phenol in water, the self-doped TiO2 crystals exhibited negligible photoactivity under visible light illumination; however, under the UV light irradiation, the reaction rate constant recorded for the light blue TiO2 was 5 times that of the white one. Appropriate self-doping of TiO2 is thus beneficial for the UV light photoactivity.