Tuning defects in oxides at room temperature by lithium reduction

作者：Gang Ou, Yushuai Xu, Bo Wen, Rui Lin, Binghui Ge, Yan Tang, Yuwei Liang, Cheng Yang, Kai Ying Huang, Di Zu, Rong Yu, Wenxing Chen, Jun Li, Hui Wu, Li-Min Liu, Yadong Li · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-018-03765-0 · 被引用次数：724 · 研究领域：Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques、Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides、ZnO doping and properties

Abstract Defects can greatly influence the properties of oxide materials; however, facile defect engineering of oxides at room temperature remains challenging. The generation of defects in oxides is difficult to control by conventional chemical reduction methods that usually require high temperatures and are time consuming. Here, we develop a facile room-temperature lithium reduction strategy to implant defects into a series of oxide nanoparticles including titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin dioxide (SnO 2 ), and cerium dioxide (CeO 2 ). Our lithium reduction strategy shows advantages including all-room-temperature processing, controllability, time efficiency, versatility and scalability. As a potential application, the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of defective TiO 2 is examined. The hydrogen evolution rate increases up to 41.8 mmol g −1 h −1 under one solar light irradiation, which is ~3 times higher than that of the pristine nanoparticles. The strategy of tuning defect oxides used in this work may be beneficial for many other related applications.