Studies on interstitial carbon doping from a Ti precursor in a hierarchical TiO2 nanostructured photoanode by a single step hydrothermal route.

Carbon doping from a Ti precursor in TiO2 synthesized by a hydrothermal method was studied. The structural, optical and morphological study of the deposited material was carried out using X-ray diffraction, UV-vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy characterization techniques. The elemental composition of the TiO2 deposited with different precursor concentrations was studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The amount of elemental carbon in the TiO2 matrix is found to be increased as the Ti precursor concentration is increased, which strengthens the proposed idea of carbon doping via a Ti precursor.

Studies on effect of temperature on synthesis of hierarchical TiO2 nanostructures by surfactant free single step hydrothermal route and its photoelectrochemical characterizations.

Exotic hierarchical rutile TiO2 nanostructures are synthesized by surfactant free single step hydrothermal route. The effect of reaction temperature, ranging from 140°C to 200°C on the properties of the synthesized rutile-TiO2 is investigated. The synthesized rutile-TiO2 nanostructures are characterized using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The deposited TiO2 samples are found to be photoelectrochemically active and the best photoelectrochemical performance (0.95±0.05%) is obtained for the sample deposited at 180°C. A possible temperature dependent growth mechanism resulting in photochemically active TiO2 nanostructure thin films is proposed.