Manipulating spin polarization of titanium dioxide for efficient photocatalysis.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31964887.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-14333-w and PMC identifier 6972883.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Photocatalysis has been regarded as a promising strategy for hydrogen production and high-value-added chemicals synthesis, in which the activity of photocatalyst depends significantly on their electronic structures, however the effect of electron spin polarization has been rarely considered. Here we report a controllable method to manipulate its electron spin polarization by tuning the concentration of Ti vacancies. The characterizations confirm the emergence of spatial spin polarization among Ti-defected TiO<sub>2</sub>, which promotes the efficiency of charge separation and surface reaction via the parallel alignment of electron spin orientation. Specifically, Ti<sub>0.936</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, possessing intensive spin polarization, performs 20-fold increased photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and 8-fold increased phenol photodegradation rates, compared with stoichiometric TiO<sub>2</sub>. Notably, we further observed the positive effect of external magnetic fields on photocatalytic activity of spin-polarized TiO<sub>2</sub>, attributed to the enhanced electron-spin parallel alignment. This work may create the opportunity for tailoring the spin-dependent electronic structures in metal oxides.