title: Hydrogenated blue titania with high solar absorption and greatly improved photocatalysis.
abstract: Hydrogenated black titania, with a crystalline core/amorphous shell structure, has attracted global interest due to its excellent photocatalytic properties. However, the understanding of its structure-property relationships remains a great challenge and a more effective method to produce hydrogenated titania is desirable. Herein, we report a TiH2 assisted reduction method to synthesize bluish hydrogenated titania (TiO2-x:H) that is highly crystallized. The characteristic amorphous shells, which are essential for the enhancement of solar absorption and photocatalysis in many reported hydrogenated titania, are completely removed by hydrogen peroxide. The blue TiO2-x:H sample without amorphous shells delivers not only significantly improved visible- and infrared-light absorption but also greatly enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to pristine TiO2. Its water decontamination is 2.5 times faster and the hydrogen production was 1.9-fold higher over pristine TiO2. Photoelectrochemical measurement reveals greatly improved carrier density and photocurrent (a 4.3-fold increase) in the reduced TiO2-x:H samples. This work develops a facile and versatile method to prepare hydrogenated titania and proposes a new understanding of the hydrogenated titania that doped hydrogen atoms, instead of the amorphous shells, are essential for its high photocatalytic performance.
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion and State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China. huangfq@mail.sic.ac.cn zhanghui@mail.sic.ac.cn and Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China.
authors: Guilian
authors: G
authors: Zhu
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion and State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China. huangfq@mail.sic.ac.cn zhanghui@mail.sic.ac.cn.
authors: Yufeng
authors: Y
authors: Shan
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion and State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China. huangfq@mail.sic.ac.cn zhanghui@mail.sic.ac.cn.
authors: Tianquan
authors: T
authors: Lin
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion and State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China. huangfq@mail.sic.ac.cn zhanghui@mail.sic.ac.cn and Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China.
authors: Wenli
authors: W
authors: Zhao
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion and State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China. huangfq@mail.sic.ac.cn zhanghui@mail.sic.ac.cn.
authors: Jijian
authors: J
authors: Xu
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion and State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China. huangfq@mail.sic.ac.cn zhanghui@mail.sic.ac.cn and Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China.
authors: Zhangliu
authors: Z
authors: Tian
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion and State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China. huangfq@mail.sic.ac.cn zhanghui@mail.sic.ac.cn.
authors: Hui
authors: H
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA. czheng@niu.edu.
authors: Chong
authors: C
authors: Zheng
authors: CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion and State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, P.R. China. huangfq@mail.sic.ac.cn zhanghui@mail.sic.ac.cn and Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China.
authors: Fuqiang
authors: F
authors: Huang