Carbon-Deposited TiO₂ 3D Inverse Opal Photocatalysts: Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity and Enhanced Activity in a Viscous Solution

Abstract

We for the first time demonstrated carbon-deposited TiO2 inverse opal (C-TiO2 IO) structures as highly efficient visible photocatalysts. The carbon deposition proceeded via high-temperature pyrolysis of phloroglucinol/formaldehyde resol, which had been coated onto the TiO2 IO structures. Carbon deposition formed a carbon layer and doped the TiO2 interface, which synergistically enhanced visible-light absorption. We directly measured the visible-light photocatalytic activity by constructing solar cells comprising the C-TiO2 IO electrode. Photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes in a solution was also evaluated. Photocatalytic dye degradation under visible light was only observed in the presence of the C-TiO2 IO sample and was increased with the content of carbon deposition. The IO structures could be readily decorated with TiO2 nanoparticles to increase the surface area and enhance the photocatalytic activity. Notably, the photocatalytic reaction was found to proceed in a viscous polymeric solution. A comparison of the mesoporous TiO2 structure and the IO TiO2 structure revealed that the latter performed better as the solution viscosity increased. This result was attributed to facile diffusion into the fully connected and low-tortuosity macropore network of the IO structure.

Ultrafast Carrier Trapping of a Metal-Doped Titanium Dioxide Semiconductor Revealed by Femtosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy

“…Semiconductor TiO2 is a widely studied material [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] due to the chemical stability, nontoxic nature, inexpensive fabrication and abundance in nature. 8 This highly versatile material has found many applications in a variety of research areas of significance, including electronics, 9 photovoltaics, 10 photocatalysis 3 and photoelectrochemical conversion.…”

Template‐Based Engineering of Carbon‐Doped Co3O4 Hollow Nanofibers as Anode Materials for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…A great number of methods have been developed to engineer C-doped TiO 2 including solgel method with carbon precursors, direct burning of titanium metal in natural gas fl ame, annealing TiO 2 under CO gas fl ow at high temperature, and thermal oxidation of TiC. [22][23][24][25] However, these conventional approaches have major limitations due to the requirement of external carbon precursors and the presence of aggregation of carbon species. [ 26 ] Herein, a novel hybrid synthesis procedure by combining electrospinning technique and hydrothermal method is described.…”

Enhanced supercapacitor performances using C-doped porous TiO 2 electrodes

“…8b indicates that the titanium peaks are located at binding energies 458.50 (Ti 2p3/2) and 464.24 eV (Ti 2p1/2). The splitting between Ti 2p1/2 and Ti 2p3/2 is 5.74 eV, indicating a dominant surface state of Ti 4+ in the as-prepared C-doped TiO 2 [16,30]. Furthermore, the Ti 2p3/2 binding energy for the C-doped hollow TiO 2 spheres is 458.5 eV, an increase of 0.20 eV.…”

“…[13,14]Therefore, combining TiO 2 and carbon element is likely to drive potential in the development of advanced electrochemical capacitors. Considerable endeavors have been paid to construct functionalized carbon/titania (C/TiO 2 ) materials including sol-gel method with carbon precursors, direct burning of titanium metal in natural gas flame, and thermal oxidation of TiC [15,16]. However, these developed methods to incorporate carbon element to TiO 2 have drawbacks because the addition of external carbon precursors is required and the aggregation of carbon species commonly arises [17].Therefore, novel designs and strategies for creating functional C/TiO 2 materials are urged.…”