Sol-gel Synthesis, Photo- and Electrocatalytic Properties of Mesoporous TiO2 Modified with Transition Metal Ions

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters 2017-03, Vol.12 (1), p.1-239, Article 239
• Main Authors: Smirnova, N., Petrik, I., Vorobets, V., Kolbasov, G., Eremenko, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cobalt; Copper; CrVI photoreduction; Dissolved oxygen; Doping with transition metal ions; Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; Energy gap; Energy measurement; Hydrogen peroxide; Manganese; Materials Science; Mesoporous TiO2; Metals; Molecular Medicine; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanosized films; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials 2016; Nickel; Photoelectric effect; Photoelectric emission; Position measurement; Sol-gel processes; Spectroscopy; Titanium dioxide; Transition metals; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1186/s11671-017-2002-3

Mesoporous nanosized titania films modified with Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Mn 3+ , and Cu 2+ ions have been produced by templated sol-gel method and characterized by optical spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) surface area measurement. Band gap energy and the position of flat band potentials were estimated by photoelectrochemical measurements. The films doped with transition metals possessed higher photocurrent quantum yield, as well as photo- and electrochemical activity compared to undoped samples. M n+ /TiO 2 (M–Co, Ni, Mn, Cu) electrodes with low dopant content demonstrate high efficiency in electrocatalytic reduction of dissolved oxygen. Polarization curves of TiO 2 , TiO 2 /Ni 2+ , TiO 2 /Co 2+/3+ , and TiO 2 /Mn 3+ electrodes contain only one current wave (oxygen reduction current). It means that reaction proceeds without the formation of an intermediate product H 2 O 2 .