Fabrication and Characterization of Type‐II Heterostructure n:In₂O₃/p:in‐TiO₂ for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

The photodegradation rate of anatase TiO 2 is enhanced by about 11 times (from 0.0015 to 0.016 min À1) by construction of a type-II p-n heterostructure of configuration n:In 2 O 3 /p:In-doped TiO 2. A simple and cost-effective two-stage electrochemical anodization is used for the fabrication of this comparatively stable and recyclable photocatalyst of vertically aligned indium-doped TiO 2 nanotubes with an overlayer of n-type In 2 O 3 nanoparticles. The modified structural, morphological, compositional, optical, and electrical properties of the TiO 2 nanotubes are studied in detail by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, reflectance measurements, and electrical conductivity measurements. The enhancement in device performance by the heterostructure is attributable to the tuning of optical bandgap to the visible energy region of solar spectrum, the effective electron-hole pair separation at the potential barrier, and the increase in surface-to-volume ratio and effective adsorption area of the photocatalyst by the structural modification with nanoparticles and the nanotube formation.

Improved Photoactivity Of NiO/ZnO Nanorods Heterostructured Films Relying On Scaffold Surface Cleaning And NiO Deposition Time Optimization

“…Compared to a previous study reporting the same type heterostructure [49] as ours, we obtain similar photodegradation efficiencies (70 %) for a pollutant that is much harder to degrade, the RhB. Again, higher efficiencies are reported for ZnO/CuO heterostructured films built on ZNR scaffold [67,68] but also for TiO 2 /In 2 O 3 films built on TiO 2 nanotube scaffold [69] for the standard MB dye. Incredibly high efficiency is reported for the degradation of RhB for physically deposited CuO/TiO 2 flat films but details on the irradiance level are not given [70] .…”

α-Fe2O3/ZnO heterostructure for enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial activity

“…These are toxic and carcinogenic [1,2]. This has aroused general concern, especially in the face of devastating doping, heterostructure fabrications, composite formations, etc [6,[8][9][10].…”

Size Dependent Chemical Synthesis of Defective In2O3 Microcubes as NO2 Sensor

“…Indium oxide (In 2 O 3 ) is an n‐type semiconductor and has received extensive research due to its wide applications in water splitting, [ 1 ] dye degradation, [ 2 ] memristive device, [ 3 ] supercapacitor, [ 4 ] and gas sensor. [ 5 ] Synthesis of material in a well defined morphology is an important goal of modern material chemistry because of the importance of the shape and texture of materials in determining their widely varying properties.…”