Energy-resolved distribution of electron traps in photocatalyst particles as a siginificant parameter for their photocatalytic activities

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26620187
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Inorganic industrial materials
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Ohtani Bunsho 北海道大学, 触媒科学研究所, 教授 (80176924)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TAKASE Mai 室蘭工業大学, 大学院工学研究科, 准教授 (20631972)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 電子トラップのエネルギー分布 / 酸化チタン / 光触媒 / 金属酸化物粒子の指紋

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It is revealed that identification of metal-oxide powders is enabled by energy-resolved distribution of electron traps (ERDT) measured using newly developed reversed double-beam photoacoustic spectroscopy. The ERDT patterns and conduction-band bottom (CBB) positions, measured by ordinary photoacoustic spectroscopy, for more than 20 titanium(IV) oxide (titania) powders were different depending on the kind of sample. Degrees of coincidence (dC) of ERDT/CBB were evaluated for a given pair of samples as a product of coincidence of (a) ERDT-pattern matching, (b) total ET density and (c) CBB position. Samples with different code names showed low dC except for pairs of samples prepared in the same way but coded differently. Furthermore, it was shown that the higher the dC, the higher the degree of coincidence of photocatalytic activity of titania samples, i.e., photocatalytic activity of titania samples may be governed by ERDT/CBB.

Free Research Field

光触媒化学