2 - Rutile TiO2–based new photocatalysts for visible light water oxidation

Abstract

This chapter describes recent progress on the development of rutile TiO2–based photocatalysts for visible light water splitting made by our group. Although rutile TiO2 is a wide-gap semiconductor with a band gap of 3.0eV, we found that codoping of nitrogen and tantalum (or fluorine) into rutile TiO2 gives new absorption in visible light region, which is available for water oxidation reaction. Another effective means to activate the wide-gap TiO2 is surface modification with nanoparticulate cobalt hydroxide or oxide, which enables to utilize an entire range of visible light for water oxidation.