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Tuning the photoelectronic and photocatalytic properties of single-crystalline TiO2 nanosheet array films with dominant {001} facets by controlling the hydrochloric acid concentration

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Abstract

Single-crystalline TiO2 nanosheet array films with tunable percentage of exposed {001} facets were synthesized on FTO by a simple hydrothermal method. The effects of the hydrochloric acid concentration on morphology, crystal structure, and optical property have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscope system, and UV–Vis spectrophotometer. When the hydrochloric acid concentration increases from 4.8 to 5.2 mol/L, dense regular nanosheets tend to grow perpendicular to the substrate surface, and the percentage of exposed {001} facets is increasing from 76 to 84 %. Evolution of these nanosheet array films has accompanied by significant variations of photoelectronic and photocatalytic properties. The intensity of Raman peak E g at 144 cm−1 decreases, and the photocurrent increases when more proportion areas of {001} facets are exposed. The sample prepared at hydrochloric acid concentration of 4.8 mol/L shows the highest photocatalytic activity. This can be explained by the preferential carrier transport to different facets of the TiO2 crystal with tradeoff relation between the {101} and {001} facets, and a increasing of total catalytic sites.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51472003 and 51272001) and the National Key Basic Research Program (2013CB632705), The authors would like to thank Yonglong Zhuang and Zhongqing Lin of the Experimental Technology Center of Anhui University, for the electron microscope test and discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics & Material Science, Anhui University, Hefei, 230601, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Yang, Miao Zhang, Gang He & Zhaoqi Sun

  2. Army Officer Academy, Hefei, 230031, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Yang, Qianghua Zhang, Weihua Wang & Shubing Ma

  3. School of Electronic & Information Engineering, Hefei Normal University, Hefei, 230601, People’s Republic of China

    Jianguo Lv

  4. National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, People’s Republic of China

    Jianguo Lv

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  1. Lei Yang
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Correspondence to Zhaoqi Sun.

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Yang, L., Zhang, Q., Wang, W. et al. Tuning the photoelectronic and photocatalytic properties of single-crystalline TiO2 nanosheet array films with dominant {001} facets by controlling the hydrochloric acid concentration. J Mater Sci 51, 950–957 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9424-z

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