1. Orientational Alignment of Oxygen Vacancies: Electric-Field-Inducing Conductive Channels in TiO2 Film to Boost Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 into CO
- Author
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Lu Wang, Jun Ren, Sheng Zhang, Junming Li, Wenbo Mi, Jun Li, Youwei Du, Yong Zhou, Wenxia Su, Dunhui Wang, Hong Hong, and Pengtao Cheng
- Subjects
Work (thermodynamics) ,Materials science ,Field (physics) ,Mechanical Engineering ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Bioengineering ,02 engineering and technology ,General Chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Oxygen ,Catalysis ,chemistry ,Chemical physics ,Electric field ,Yield (chemistry) ,Photocatalysis ,General Materials Science ,0210 nano-technology ,Electrical conductor - Abstract
Oxide semiconductors are widely used in the photocatalytic fields, and introducing oxygen vacancies is an effective strategy to improve their photocatalytic efficiency. However, oxygen vacancies in the bulk often act as the recombination centers of electron-hole pairs, which accelerates the recombination of electron-hole pairs. In this paper, we propose a strategy of electric field treatment and apply it to a TiO2 film with oxygen vacancies to promote the photocatalytic efficiency. After treatment by an electric field, the conductive channels consisting of oxygen vacancies are formed in the TiO2 film, which greatly decreases the resistance by almost 6 × 103 times. The yield of CO can reach up to 1.729 mmol gcat-1 h-1, which is one of the best performances among the reported TiO2-based catalysts. This work provides an effective and feasible way for enhancing photocatalytic activity through an electric field, and this method is promising for wide use in the field of catalysis.
- Published
- 2021