Enhanced photocatalytic activity of nc-TiO2 by promoting photogenerated electrons captured by the adsorbed oxygen†
Abstract
Nanocrystalline TiO2 (nc-TiO2) was modified by a simple post treatment with monometallic sodium orthophosphate solution. It is shown that the surface modification with an appropriate amount of phosphate obviously enhances the surface photovoltage responses of nc-TiO2 in the presence of O2, clearly indicating that the separation of photogenerated charges is greatly improved by promoting the photoelectrons captured by the adsorbed O2. This is well responsible for its much high photocatalytic activity for degrading representative gas-phase