title: New insight into binary TiO2@C nanocomposites: the crucial effect of an interfacial microstructure.
abstract: Combining with carbon materials is a common and efficient strategy to improve the photocatalytic performance of TiO2. But the fundamental nature of the interfacial microstructures between carbon and TiO2and how they affect the photocatalysis process remain controversial. In this work, hybrid TiO2@C nanocomposites with different carbon contents are synthesized. It is found that an interfacial disorder region with interfacial Ti-O-C bonds and abundant defects (oxygen vacancies, VO) can be generally formed from the chemical interactions between carbon and Ti-O-Ti skeletons. These interfacial VOsites are well stabilized by the carbon complex coating, and maintain their intrinsic nature in visible light absorption and electron trapping. Moreover, the synergistic effect of interfacial bonding, defective sites and the components on the visible photocatalysis of TiO2@C composites has been carefully investigated, and a corresponding mechanism is also proposed.
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China. jdzhuang@gmail.com mizi.fan@brunel.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jiandong
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8620-9678
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China. jdzhuang@gmail.com mizi.fan@brunel.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Qinfen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: The State Key Lab of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9866-4275
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China. jdzhuang@gmail.com mizi.fan@brunel.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Xiurong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China. jdzhuang@gmail.com mizi.fan@brunel.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Yuqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China. jdzhuang@gmail.com mizi.fan@brunel.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Mizi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fan