The improved photocatalytic properties of P-type NiO loaded porous TiO2 sheets prepared via freeze tape-casting

For the interest of the practical application, porous TiO2 sheets were prepared by a novel freeze tape-casting method, in order to improve the photocatalytic activities of these TiO2 sheets, p-type NiO was loaded by chemical solution deposition. The samples were characterized by a series of physical means, including XRD, SEM, EDS, XPS, ICP-OES, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange solution. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 sheet was greatly enhanced by the NiO loading, and the photocatalytic efficiency increased with increasing the NiO loading, the extraordinary performance for the NiO-loaded sample with 0.1 M precursor dipped was related to its unique morphology. The sample annealed at 600 °C showed the better photocatalytic activity than the sample annealed at 400 °C and 800 °C. The improvement of the photocatalytic activity was attributed to the formation of p–n junctures at the interface of the NiO/TiO2, which facilitates the photoinduced electron/hole pairs' separation by the inner electric field, thus leading to the higher photocatalytic activities for the NiO-loaded TiO2 sheets.

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