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- Title
Proton-free electron-trapping feature of titanium dioxide nanoparticles without the characteristic blue color.
- Authors
Yan, Yan; Shi, Weidong; Peng, Wei; Lin, Yuhan; Zhang, Chunxi; Li, Lailai; Sun, Young; Ju, Huanxin; Zhu, Junfa; Ma, Wanhong; Zhao, Jincai
- Abstract
Most solar-energy conversion applications are based on trapping and transferring photoinduced electrons on oxide semiconductor nanoparticles, such as titanium dioxide, and broad UV-vis absorption (400~800 nm) and monotonic IR absorption (1100~3000 cm−1) signals have long been considered signatures of the electron-trapping state on titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Here we show that, under proton-free conditions and using iodide ions in acetonitrile as the hole scavenger, the intrinsic electron-trapping feature of titanium dioxide nanoparticles does not exhibit the characteristic UV-vis absorption and infrared absorption signatures. Further electron spin resonance studies identify the proton-free electron-trapping state as the lattice octahedral Ti6c3+ species, differing from the traditional proton-participating surface tetrahedral Ti4c3+ species. Synchronized radiation ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy results also show that the internal electron-trapping state without protons has a larger Ti3d binding energy (1.8 eV) than the blue electron-trapping state (1.3 eV) that forms when protons participate and thus shows different electron transfer abilities. Irradiation of titanium dioxide creates electronically trapped states which play a key role in solar energy conversion. Here, intrinsic electron trapping under aprotic conditions is experimentally shown to exhibit different spectroscopic properties than the conventional blue colour observed under protic conditions.
- Subjects
ELECTRON traps; TITANIUM dioxide; NANOPARTICLES; PROTONS; IODIDES; ACETONITRILE; ELECTRON spin
- Publication
Communications Chemistry, 2019, Vol 2, Issue 1, pN.PAG
- ISSN
2399-3669
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s42004-019-0191-7