Green solid-state synthesis and photocatalytic hydrogen production activity of anatase TiO2 nanoplates with super heat-stability

Abstract

A simple and environmentally friendly new method, a low-heating solid-state chemical method (LSCM), has been used to prepare uniform NH4TiOF3 nanoplates with a thickness of about 100 nm in the absence of surfactants. The solid-solid transformation was used to convert NH4TiOF3 nanoplates to TiO2 nanoplates with an exposed (001) facet via a simple sintering process at different temperatures. The anatase TiO2 nanoplates obtained in this work have super heat-stability, and can withstand high temperatures and maintain highly active anatase up to 1000 °C. The obtained compact TiO2 nanoplates have high photocurrent density and photocatalytic hydrogen-production activity, better than as-prepared TiO2 porous nanoplates and reported values in the literature, which is due to the exposed (001) facet and the high degree of crystallinity. This work provides a simple, efficient and environmentally friendly way to prepare TiO2 nanoplates and nanoparticles, and also offers a new approach for preparing anatase TiO2 with super heat-stability and high reactivity, which can be applied to H2-production via photocatalytic water splitting.