Enhanced active oxidative species generation over Fe-doped defective TiO2 nanosheets for boosted photodegradation

Xintong Gao; Shuai Zhang; Jingchao Liu; Shiqi Xu; Zenghe Li

doi:10.1039/D0RA08116G

Enhanced active oxidative species generation over Fe-doped defective TiO₂ nanosheets for boosted photodegradation†

Xintong Gao,^a Shuai Zhang,^b Jingchao Liu,

^c Shiqi Xu^a and Zenghe Li

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Key Laboratory of Environmentally Harmful Chemical Analysis, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
E-mail: lizh@mail.buct.edu.cn

^b Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

^c State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China

Abstract

Semiconductor photocatalysis is widely proposed for decomposing multiple pollutants via photo-generated oxidative species. However, the photocatalytic degradation performance in practical settings still remains unsatisfactory due to the limited production of active oxidative species (AOS). In this work, a defect engineering strategy was developed to explore the superiority of oxygen vacancies (Vo) and their structural regulation to enhance AOS production for boosting photodegradation. Taking anatase TiO₂ as a model photocatalyst, ultrathin TiO₂ nanosheets containing abundant Vo and appropriate Fe doping exhibited an unprecedented 134 times higher activity in the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) (rate as high as 0.3073 min⁻¹) than bulk anatase and were superior to most reported photocatalysts. The defect-rich ultrathin TiO₂ nanosheets could be further applied in high-efficiency degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) with the degradation rate of 0.0423 min⁻¹. The in situ electron paramagnetic resonance, advanced spectroscopic characterization and electrochemical measurement revealed the key role of Vo and Fe doping in facilitating the production of photo-generated holes and superoxide radicals (˙O₂⁻) that were identified to be effective to decompose both RhB and TC-HCl. This research provides insight into defect engineering promoting AOS generation and gives inspiration for the design of efficient photocatalysts for photooxidation applications.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA08116G
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 23 Sep 2020
Accepted: 03 Nov 2020
First published: 09 Nov 2020
This article is Open Access

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RSC Adv., 2020,10, 40619-40624

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Enhanced active oxidative species generation over Fe-doped defective TiO₂ nanosheets for boosted photodegradation

X. Gao, S. Zhang, J. Liu, S. Xu and Z. Li, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 40619 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA08116G

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