Black titania for photodecomposition of organic compounds

Abstract

Hydrogenation is an easy and low-cost method for the modification on light adsorption of titania which has received immense attention owing to its highly ordered morphology and structure, perpendicular electron transfer channels, and excellent electric conductivity. Also, hydrogenation is a simple and facile process in which it does not involve the use of a catalyst and other chemicals and does not need further treatment including separation and purification. Thus, hydrogenation treatment of titania has been regarded as an effective way to obtain an efficient photocatalyst by improving its specific capacitance, surface disorder, O2 vacancies, donor density, and stability by controlling the introduction of O2 vacancy states. Furthermore, the OH group introduced on titania modifies the electrochemical activity of titania and thus increases its pseudo-capacitance. In order to increase the efficiency, the hydrogenated process normally complies with doped metal and metal ions. The solar absorption coefficient and wavelength range of hydrogenated titania increased as doping process, which increases the separation and the electrons transportation of electrons and holes. Thus, designing the hydrogenation and doping process considered as simple and versatile methods to overcome the limits solar adsorption, fast electron–hole pair recombination and poor electrochemical activity and conductivity of titania. This provides new option into the photocatalytic of hydrogenated titania and paves the way for further studies of other hydrogenated and doped metal oxides for photocatalysis system’s applications.