Preparation of Ta-Doped TiO2 Using Ta2O5 as the Doping Source

A novel method for preparing Ta-doped Ti02 via using Ta2 05 as the doping source is proposed. The preparation process combines the hydrothernlal fluorination of Ta2O5 and the subsequent formation of Ta-doped TiO2 sol. The results show that the doped sample annealed at 393 K generates an unstable intermediate NH4 TiOF3, which converts into anatase TiO2 with the increase of temperature. After annealing at ≥673K, the Ta-doped TiO2 nanocrystals with the grain size 〈20nm are obtained. Both the XRD and TG-DSC results confirm that Ta doping prevents the anatase-rutile crystal transition of TiO2. The band gap values of the doped samples, as obtained by UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, are smaller than that of pure anatase TiO2. The first-principle pseudopotential method calculations indicate that Ta5＋ lies in the TiO2 lattice at the interstitial position.

PREPARATION OF TiO_2 THIN FILMS BY MOCVD METHOD

Preparation of TiO2 thin films by MOCVD method is presented in this paper. A MOCVD system has been designed and built. A wide range of processing conditions are investigated to deposit TiO2 films on Si wafers starting from metal-organic precursor tetrabutyl titanate. Activation energy of the film formation （E） is obtained to be 23.6 kJ/mol. Structure of films is pure anatase when deposit temperatures are low, rutile forms at 700℃. The films also exhibit preferred crystallographic orientations which strongly depend on deposit conditions. Refractive index increases with increasing of film thickness and decreasing of deposit temperature.

Fe^(3+)-Doped Anatase TiO_2 Study Prepared by New Sol-Gel Precursors

FeTi_1-O_2（= 0.00,0.05,0.10） nanocomposites are synthesized using a sol-gel method involving an ethanol solvent in the presence of ethylene glycol as the stabilizer,and acetic acid as the chemical reagent.Their structural and optical analyses are studied to reveal their physicochemical properties.Using the x-ray diffractometer（XRD）analysis,the size of the nanoparticles（NPs） is found to be 18-32 nm,where the size of the NPs decreases down to 18 nm when Fe impurity of up to 10% is added,whereas their structure remains unchanged.The results also indicate that the structure of the NPs is tetragonal in the anatase phase.The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis suggests the presence of a vibration bond（Ti-O） in the sample.The photoluminescence analysis indicates that the diffusion of Fe^（3＋） ions into the TiO_2 matrix results in a decreasing electron-hole recombination,and increases the photocatalytic properties,where the best efficiency appears at an impurity of10%.The UV-diffuse reflection spectroscopy analysis indicates that with the elevation of iron impurity,the band gap value decreases from 3.47 eV for the pure sample to 2.95 eV for the 10 mol% Fe-doped TiO_2 NPs.

Review of the progress in preparing nano TiO_2: An important environmental engineering material

TiO2 nanomaterial is promising with its high potential and outstanding performance in photocatalytic environmental applications, such as CO2 conversion, water treatment, and air quality control. For many of these applications, the particle size, crystal structure and phase, porosity, and surface area influence the activity of TiO2 dramatically. TiO2 nanomaterials with special structures and morphologies, such as nanospheres, nanowires, nanotubes, nanorods, and nanoflowers are thus synthesized due to their desired characteristics. With an emphasis on the different morphologies of TiO2 and the influence factors in the synthesis, this review summarizes fourteen TiO2 preparation methods, such as the sol-gel method, solvothermal method, and reverse micelle method. The TiO2 formation mechanisms, the advantages and disadvantages of the preparation methods, and the photocatalytic environmental application examples are proposed as well.

Improving photoelectrochemical activity of dye sensitized solar cell by a bilayered electrode with an overlayer of mesoporous anatase TiO_2

For better performance of dye sensitized solar cells （DSSCs）, a bilayer structured electrode was constructed by employing a mesoporous anatase TiO2 overlayer above a commercial P25 TiO2 nanoparticles underlayer. The mesoporous anatase TiO2, prepared through a facile surfactant-assisted sol-gel process, possessed large pore size and well inter-connected network structure, both beneficial for dye adsorption and electron transfer. The dye adsorption capability of the mesoporous TiO2 was nearly twice that of the P25 counterpart. In the electrode, the mesoporous TiO2 film enhanced both dye adsorption and lightharvest, to increase photocurrent （Jsc） from 12.32 to 14.78 mA/cm^2. Compared to the single P25 TiO2 film, the synergy of the mesoporous TiO2 and the P25 TiO2 nanoparticle films in the electrode resulted in a 24% improvement in light-to-electricity conversion efficiency （η）. This bilayered electrode provides an alternative approach for further developing a photovoltaic device with better cell performance.