Reduction is considered to be an effective method to improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO ; however, the underlying relationship between structure and photocatalytic performance has not been adequately unveiled to date. To obtain insights into the effect of structure on photocatalytic activity, two types of reduced TiO were prepared from CO (CO-TiO ) and H (H-TiO ). For H-TiO , Ti-H bonds and oxygen vacancies are formed on the surface of H-TiO , which results in a more disordered surface lattice. However, for CO-TiO , more Ti-OH bonds are formed on the surface and more bulk oxygen vacancies are introduced; the disorder layer of CO-TiO is relatively thin, owing to most surface vacancies being filled by Ti-OH bonds. Under simulated solar irradiation, the photocatalytic H evolution rate of CO-TiO reaches 7.17 mmol g h , which is 4.14 and 1.50 times those of TiO and H-TiO , respectively. The photocatalytic degradation rate constant of methyl orange on CO-TiO is 2.45 and 6.39 times those on H-TiO and TiO . The superior photocatalytic activity of CO-TiO is attributed to the effective separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, due to the synergistic effects of oxygen vacancies and surface Ti-OH bonds. This study reveals the relationship between the photocatalytic properties and structure, and provides a new method to prepare highly active TiO for H production and environmental treatment.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.