First-principles study of the electronic and optical properties of the (Y,N)-codoped anatase TiO_2 photocatalyst

First-principles plane-wave pseudopotential calculations are performed to study the geometrical structures, for- mation energies, and electronic and optical properties of Y-doped, N-doped, and （Y, N）-codoped Ti02. The calculated results show that Y and N codoping leads to lattice distortion, easier separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and band gap narrowing. The optical absorption spectra indicate that an obvious red-shift occurs upon Y and N codoping, which enhances visible-light photocatalytic activity.

First-principles calculation of electronic properties of N-and X(X=S,Se,Te)-codoped anatase TiO_2

The impact of N-and X（X=S,Se,Te）-codoping on electronic properties of anatase TiO2 has been systematically investigated using density functional theory （DFT）.The optimized geometry shows that there is large lattice expansion for the codoped anatase TiO2 due to large atomic radius of the codoped atom.The calculated substitution energies indicate that incorporation of X（X =S,Se,Te） into N-doped bulk TiO2 can not promote synergistic effect on N after substituting for Ti,whcreas it is bctter after substituting for O.According to the total density of states （DOS） and corresponding partial DOS （PDOS）,it can be seen that substituting X（X =S,Se,Te） for O,N 2p orbital is strongly hybridized with impurity states （S 3p,Se 4p,Te 5p）.After substituting X（X=S,Se,Te） for Ti,conduction band is mainly dominated by Ti 3d orbit and S 3p （Se 4p or Te 5p）-N 2p-Ti 3d hybridized states are formed.Based on Bader analysis,it can be indicated that the electron transfer is from N to X（X=S,Se,Te） if substituting X（X=S,Se,Te） for O,but it is opposite if substitute X（X=S,Se,Te） for Ti.

First-principles study on anatase TiO_2 (101) surface adsorption of NO

In this paper, the stable structure and the electronic and optical properties of nitric oxide （NO） adsorption on the anatase TiO2 （101） surface are studied using the plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential method, which is based on the density functional theory. NO adsorption on the surface is weak when the outermost layer terminates on twofold coordinated oxygen atoms, but it is remarkably enhanced on the surface containing O vacancy defects. The higher the concentration of oxygen vacancy defects, the stronger the adsorption is. The adsorption energies are 3.4528 eV （N end adsorption）, 2.6770 eV （O end adsorption）, and 4.1437 eV （horizontal adsorption）. The adsorption process is exothermic, resulting in a more stable adsorption structure. Furthermore, O vacancy defects on the TiO2 （101） surface significantly contribute to the absorption of visible light in a relatively low-energy region. A new absorption peak in the low-energy region, corresponding to an energy of 0.9 eV, is observed. However, the TiO2 （101） surface structure exhibits weak absorption in the low-energy region of visible light after NO adsorption.

Impact of Oxygen Vacancy on Band Structure Engineering of n-p Codoped Anatase TiO2

Doping with various impurities is an effective approach to improve the photoelectrochemical properties of TiO2. Here, we explore the effect of oxygen vacancy on geometric and elec- tronic properties of compensated （i.e. V-N and Cr-C） and non-compensated （i.e. V-C and Cr-N） codoped anatase TiO2 by performing extensive density functional theory calculations. Theoretical results show that oxygen vacancy prefers to the neighboring site of metal dopant （i.e. V or Cr atom）. After introduction of oxygen vacancy, the unoccupied impurity bands located within band gap of these codoped TiO2 will be filled with electrons, and the posi- tion of conduction band offset does not change obviously, which result in the reduction of photoinduced carrier recombination and the good performance for hydrogen production via water splitting. Moreover, we find that oxygen vacancy is easily introduced in V-N codoped TiO2 under O-poor condition. These theoretical insights are helpful for designing codoped TiO2 with high photoelectrochemical performance.

First-principles study on the synergistic effects of codoped anatase TiO_2 photocatalysts codoped with N/Vor C/Cr

An effective compensated codoping approach is described to modify the photoelectrochemical prop- erties of anatase TiO2 by doping with nonmetals （N or C） and transition metals （V or Cr） impurities. Here, com- pensated codoped TiO2 systems are constructed with different dopant species and sources, and then their dopant formation energies and electronic structures are performed to study the stability and visible-light photoactivity by first-principles plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential calculations, respectively. The calculated results demonstrate that the codoping with transition metals facilitates the enhancement of the concentration of p-type dopants （N and C） in a host lattice. Especially, compensated codoping not only reduces the energy gap, to enhance the optical ab sorption, and eliminate the local trapping, to improve carrier mobility and conversion efficiency, but it also keeps the oxidation-reduction potential of the conduction band edge. These results are conducive to the understanding of the synergistic mechanism of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 that is enhanced by codoping.

First-principle study on the electronic and optical properties of the anatase TiO_2 (101) surface

The TiO_2（101） surface was studied using the plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential method based on the density functional theory,with emphasis on the structure,surface energy,band structure,density of states, and charge population.The anatase TiO_2（101） crystal surface structure,whose outermost and second layers were terminated by twofold coordinated oxygen atoms and fivefold coordinated titanium atoms,was found to be much more stable.The surface energy of the 18-layer atoms model was 0.580 J/m2.The surface electronic structure was similar to that of the bulk and no surface state.Compared with the bulk structure,the band gap increased 0.36 eV, the Ti5c-02c bond lengths reduced 0.171（？） after relaxation,and the charges of the surface were transferred to the body.Analysis of the optical properties of the TiO_2（101） surface showed that it did not absorb in the low-energy region.An absorption edge in the ultraviolet region corresponding to the energy of 3.06 eV was found.