Synthesis of 2D anatase TiO2 with highly reactive facets by fluorine-free topochemical conversion of 1T-TiS2 nanosheets

Marco Zarattini; Chaochao Dun; Liam H. Isherwood; Alexandre Felten; Jonathan Filippi; Madeleine P. Gordon; Linfei Zhang; Omar Kassem; Xiuju Song; Wenjing Zhang; Robert Ionescu; Jarrid A. Wittkopf; Aliaksandr Baidak; Helen Holder; Carlo Santoro; Alessandro Lavacchi; Jeffrey J. Urban; Cinzia Casiraghi

doi:10.1039/D1TA06695A

Synthesis of 2D anatase TiO₂ with highly reactive facets by fluorine-free topochemical conversion of 1T-TiS₂ nanosheets†

Marco Zarattini,

^a Chaochao Dun,

^b Liam H. Isherwood,^ac Alexandre Felten,^d Jonathan Filippi,^e Madeleine P. Gordon,^bf Linfei Zhang,

^g Omar Kassem,^a Xiuju Song,^a Wenjing Zhang,

^h Robert Ionescu,ⁱ Jarrid A. Wittkopf,ⁱ Aliaksandr Baidak,

^ac Helen Holder,ⁱ Carlo Santoro,

^j Alessandro Lavacchi,

^e Jeffrey J. Urban

^b and Cinzia Casiraghi

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK
E-mail: cinzia.casiraghi@manchester.ac.uk

^b The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

^c Dalton Cumbrian Facility, University of Manchester, Westlakes Science and Technology Park, Moor Row, Cumbria, UK

^d Physics Department, Université de Namur, Rue de Bruxelles, Namur, Belgium

^e ICCOM-CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy

^f Applied Science and Technology Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

^g School of Automotive Engineering, Guangdong Polytechnic of Science and Technology, Zhuhai, P. R. China

^h International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronics Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, P. R. China

ⁱ HP Laboratories, 1501 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, California, USA

^j Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Cozzi 5, Milano, Italy

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) anatase titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is expected to exhibit different properties as compared to anatase nanocrystallites, due to its highly reactive exposed facets. However, access to 2D anatase TiO₂ is limited by the non-layered nature of the bulk crystal, which does not allow use of top-down chemical exfoliation. Large efforts have been dedicated to the growth of 2D anatase TiO₂ with high reactive facets by bottom-up approaches, which relies on the use of harmful chemical reagents. Here, we demonstrate a novel fluorine-free strategy based on topochemical conversion of 2D 1T-TiS₂ for the production of single crystalline 2D anatase TiO₂, exposing the {001} facet on the top and bottom and {100} at the sides of the nanosheet. The exposure of these faces, with no additional defects or doping, gives rise to a significant activity enhancement in the hydrogen evolution reaction, as compared to commercially available Degussa P25 TiO₂ nanoparticles. Because of the strong potential of TiO₂ in many energy-based applications, our topochemical approach offers a low cost, green and mass scalable route for production of highly crystalline anatase TiO₂ with well controlled and highly reactive exposed facets.

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Synthesis of 2D anatase TiO₂ with highly reactive facets by fluorine-free topochemical conversion of 1T-TiS₂ nanosheets†

Abstract

Supplementary files

Article information

Download Citation

Permissions

Synthesis of 2D anatase TiO₂ with highly reactive facets by fluorine-free topochemical conversion of 1T-TiS₂ nanosheets

Social activity

Search articles by author

Spotlight

Advertisements

Journal of Materials Chemistry A