title: Electrochemical degradation of refractory pollutants using TiO2 single crystals exposed by high-energy {001} facets.
abstract: Anodic material plays a vital role in electrochemical water treatment. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been widely recognized as an excellent semiconductor photocatalyst, rather than an efficient electrocatalyst, due to its relatively low electric conductivity and poor electrochemical activity. In this work, it is found that TiO2 can actually become a superior electrocatalyst when its crystal shape and exposed facet are finely tuned. The shape-engineered TiO2 single crystals with {001} facets exhibit an excellent electro-catalytic activity and stability for degrading typical organic pollutants such as rhodamine B and bisphenol A, and treating complex landfill leachate. Its electro-catalytic superiority is mainly attributed to the single-crystalline structure and exposed polar {001} facet. Our findings could provide new possibility of utilizing TiO2 for efficient electrochemical water treatment because of its high activity, great stability, low cost and no toxicity.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; Department of Municipal Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China.
authors.forename: Ai-Yong
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Lu-Lu
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. Electronic address: hqyu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Han-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D002384:Catalysis; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D012235:Rhodamines / Q000032:analysis; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013696:Temperature; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012235:Rhodamines; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C009495:titanium dioxide; D002244:Carbon; D014025:Titanium; C029773:rhodamine B; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Anodic material; Electrochemical water treatment; Facet-engineering; Polar facet; TiO(2)