Remarkable Charge Separation and Photocatalytic Efficiency Enhancement through Interconnection of TiO2 Nanoparticles by Hydrothermal Treatment

Yusuke Ide; Nozomu Inami; Hideya Hattori; Kanji Saito; Minoru Sohmiya; Nao Tsunoji; Kenji Komaguchi; Tsuneji Sano; Yoshio Bando; Dmitri Golberg; Yoshiyuki Sugahara

doi:10.1002/anie.201510000

Remarkable Charge Separation and Photocatalytic Efficiency Enhancement through Interconnection of TiO2 Nanoparticles by Hydrothermal Treatment

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2016 Mar 7;55(11):3600-5. doi: 10.1002/anie.201510000. Epub 2016 Feb 17.

Authors

Yusuke Ide^{1

2}, Nozomu Inami³, Hideya Hattori⁴, Kanji Saito³, Minoru Sohmiya³, Nao Tsunoji⁴, Kenji Komaguchi⁴, Tsuneji Sano⁴, Yoshio Bando⁵, Dmitri Golberg⁵, Yoshiyuki Sugahara^{6

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan. [email protected].
² Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 1-6-1 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8050, Japan. [email protected].
³ Department of Earth Sciences, Waseda University, 1-6-1 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8050, Japan.
⁴ Graduate School of Engineering, Department of Applied Chemistry, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8527, Japan.
⁵ International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan.
⁶ Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 1-6-1 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8050, Japan. [email protected].
⁷ Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ohkubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8555, Japan. [email protected].
⁸ Kagami Memorial Research Institute for Materials Science and Technology, Waseda University, 2-8-26 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-0051, Japan. [email protected].

PMID: 26891152
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201510000

Abstract

Although tremendous effort has been directed to synthesizing advanced TiO2 , it remains difficult to obtain TiO2 exhibiting a photocatalytic efficiency higher than that of P25, a benchmark photocatalyst. P25 is composed of anatase, rutile, and amorphous TiO2 particles, and photoexcited electron transfer and subsequent charge separation at the anatase-rutile particle interfaces explain its high photocatalytic efficiency. Herein, we report on a facile and rational hydrothermal treatment of P25 to selectively convert the amorphous component into crystalline TiO2 , which is deposited between the original anatase and rutile particles to increase the particle interfaces and thus enhance charge separation. This process produces a new TiO2 exhibiting a considerably enhanced photocatalytic efficiency. This method of synthesizing this TiO2 , inspired by a recently burgeoning zeolite design, promises to make TiO2 applications more feasible and effective.

Keywords: charge separation; dye-sensitized solar cell; photocatalysis; titanium dioxide; zeolite.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't