Cooperative effect of La-doping and template on surface photoelectron characteristics of mesoporous nano-TiO2

A mesoporous La-doped nano-TiO2 was prepared by the sol–gel method using polyethylene glycol as the template. A combination of surface photovoltaic (SPV) and photoacoustic technologies, aided by laser Raman technology, was used to probe the photoexcited charge transfer transition behaviors in the surface space charge region of the sample. The results confirm that the lanthanum doping was responsible for inhibiting the transformation from the anatase to rutile form and grain growth, thus strengthening the microstructure that was formed after removal of the template clearly. The experiment reveals that appropriate La-doping resulted in an obvious increase in the SPV response. By contrast, the remainder of the template had a somewhat negative effect on the SPV response of the samples. The effect of both the La-doping and the removal of the template on the nonradiative de-excitation process of the main band-gap can be negligible, in spite of the nonradiative de-excitation processes of the sub-band-gap of the La-undoped sample, in which the surface states possessed the donor characteristic, being more obvious than that of the La-doped samples. The results showed that the electron–phonon interactions on the surfaces resulting from the nonradiative de-excitation process were closely dependent on the effect of quantum confinement of the mesoporous nano-TiO2.

► Mesoporous La-doped nano-TiO2.
► Combination of surface photovoltaic and photoacoustic technologies is used for probing surface electron structure.
► Appropriate La-doping results in an obvious increase in surface photovoltaic response.
► The remainder of the template has a negative effect on the surface photovoltaic response.
► La-doping and removal of template have nothing to do with nonradiative de-excitation process of main band-gap.