Effects of thermal treatment under different atmospheres on the spectroscopic properties of nanocrystalline TiO2

The anatase nanocrystalline TiO2 samples were synthesized by a sol-gel method with a thermal treatment under air and oxygen atmospheres at 500 °C and investigated by x-ray powder diffraction, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRSs), Raman spectra, and photoluminescence (PL) spectra, respectively. Compared to the sample calcined in air, there were slight differences in the lattice parameter and Raman line shape for the sample calcined in oxygen. UV-vis DRSs exhibited a visible redshift of the absorption edge, which could be understood by Burstein–Moss effect. Different calcination atmospheres led the obvious variations of intensity, position, and linewidth in the PL spectra, which could be attributed to the surface oxygen defect changes.