Nanocrystalline {001} TiO sub(2)/carbon aerogel electrode with high surface area and enhanced photoelectrocatalytic oxidation capacity

Aiming at further developing the application of the highly reactive {001} TiO sub(2) in photoelectrocatalytic oxidation, which is limited by the powder form, micron-size and low surface area, a nanocrystalline {001} TiO sub(2)/carbon aerogel (CA) photoelectrode was fabricated via a facile hydrothermal method. Nano-sized (50 nm) anatase {001} TiO sub(2) was successfully grown on a CA substrate. The obtained photoelectrode endowed high surface area (537 m super(2) g super(-1)) and enhanced photoelectrocatalytic oxidation performance. Under UV light illumination, the largest photocurrent density is obtained on 50 nm {001} TiO sub(2) (5.58 mA cm super(-2)), compared to 150 nm (4.17 mA cm super(-2)), 1 mu m (2.83 mA cm super(-2)) {001} TiO sub(2), indicating that an obvious enhancement in photoelectrocatalytic oxidation activity was achieved when crystalline size reached nanometer scale. A high methylene blue removal of 93% was obtained on 50 nm {001} TiO sub(2)/CA, and the rate constant reached 8.46 10 super(-3) min super(-1), which was twice as that of P25/CA and around twenty times that of 50 nm{001} TiO sub(2)/FTO.