title: Anatase TiO2Mesocrystals: Green Synthesis, In Situ Conversion to Porous Single Crystals, and Self-Doping Ti3+for Enhanced Visible Light Driven Photocatalytic Removal of NO.
abstract: Mesocrystals are of great interest for a wide range of applications owing to their unique structural features and properties. The realization of well-defined metal oxide mesocrystals through a facile and green synthetic approach still remains a great challenge. Here, a novel synthesis strategy is reported for the production of spindle-shaped anatase TiO2mesocrystals with a single-crystal-like structure, which was simply achieved through the one-step hydrolysis reaction of TiCl3in the green and recyclable media polyethylene glycol (PEG-400) without any additives. Such anatase mesocrystals were constructed from small nanocrystal subunits (≈1.5-4.5 nm in diameter) and formed through oriented aggregation of the nanocrystals pre-formed in the reaction system. Owing to their novel structural characteristics, the as-synthesized anatase mesocrystals could be easily fused in situ into porous single crystals by annealing in air. More significantly, after being annealed in vacuum, Ti3+sites could be easily induced in the anatase crystal lattice, resulting in the formation of Ti3+self-doped anatase mesocrystals. The thus-transformed mesocrystals exhibited enhanced visible light activity towards the photocatalytic oxidation of nitric oxide (NO) to NO3-, which could be largely attributed to their intrinsic Ti3+self-doped nature, as well as high crystallinity and high porosity of the mesocrystalline architecture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Biying
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xuehao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yongjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaozhou
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, No. 1 Shizishan Street, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
keywords: NO; anatase mesocrystals; photocatalysis; porous single crystals; self-doping