Tuning defects in oxides at room temperature by lithium reduction

Abstract

Defects can greatly influence the properties of oxide materials; however, facile defect engineering of oxides at room temperature remains challenging. The generation of defects in oxides is difficult to control by conventional chemical reduction methods that usually require high temperatures and are time consuming. Here, we develop a facile room-temperature lithium reduction strategy to implant defects into a series of oxide nanoparticles including titanium dioxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin dioxide (SnO2), and cerium dioxide (CeO2). Our lithium reduction strategy shows advantages including all-room-temperature processing, controllability, time efficiency, versatility and scalability. As a potential application, the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of defective TiO2 is examined. The hydrogen evolution rate increases up to 41.8 mmol g−1 h−1 under one solar light irradiation, which is ~3 times higher than that of the pristine nanoparticles. The strategy of tuning defect oxides used in this work may be beneficial for many other related applications.

Dendrite‐Free Lithium Plating Induced by In Situ Transferring Protection Layer from Separator

“…According to the binary phase diagrams (Figure S5, Supporting Information), Pb is easy to form Pb–Li alloy with the presence of Li, which can help the reduced PZT layer adhere tightly on the surface of Li metal anode with good reproducibility. Studies have shown that when Li partially reduces metal oxide, lithium oxide passivation layer will be produced at the interface of metal oxide and Li . The lithium oxide passivation layer at the interface of reduced PZT and Li foil should also have promote the adhesion.…”

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by co-catalyst-free TiO2/C bulk heterostructures synthesized under mild conditions

“…O 1s signals are multicomponent, with the most intense peak at 530.3 eV due to oxygen in TiO 2 , and the less intense components at 531.5 and 532.6 eV due to -OH and/or defective oxygen and to adsorbed water, respectively. 23,38,39 Only the component at about 530 eV was considered to calculate O/Ti 4+ ratio, and it was found that the O/Ti 4+ ratios in A1 and A3 samples are 1.8 (AE0.2). The absence of reduced Ti was also noticed when HSGT-v was annealed in nitrogen or in hydrogen/nitrogen mixtures for different times (Fig.…”

Light-induced charge transfer at the CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 interface—a low-temperature photo-electron paramagnetic resonance assay

“…The electrons in these sites can be excited into the CB either by a thermal or photoexcitation process to form the unoccupied states [46,47]. Correspondingly, the herein observed marked colour change can also be ascribed to enhanced absorption of the visible and near-infrared light by Ti 3+ surface states in blue-TiO 2 NWs [48].…”