Enhanced photocatalytic activity of hydroxylated and N-doped anatase derived from amorphous hydrate

Abstract

The hydrogenation on unmodified TiO₂ to create disordered layers on the surface of anatase nanocrystals (NCs) in order to enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ has been widely investigated in recent years. In this contribution, we prepared hydroxylated and N-doped anatase by controlling the degree of disorder of TiO₂ derived from amorphous hydrate through a traditional pathway of heat treatment, which induced various colours in appearance and outstanding photocatalytic activities. The traditional method by heating to prepare hydroxylated TiO₂ in this work is a reverse route compared to the pathway by hydrogenation, which opens opportunites for the modification of nano-dimension semiconductors derived from amorphous hydrates.