A facile nonaqueous route for preparing mixed-phase TiO2 with high activity in photocatalytic hydrogen generation

A facile and simple method was developed to prepare amorphous titanium oxalate from nonaqueous reaction of tetrabutyl titanate and oxalic acid in ethanol at room temperature. This complex was converted to mixed-phase TiO2 (anatase/rutile) by calcinations. The mixed-phase TiO2 obtained at the optimum calcination temperature (600 °C) consisting of 67 wt% anatase and 33 wt% rutile exhibited superior photocatalytic hydrogen production activity (1026 μmol h−1) with high stability, which can be ascribed to the phase-junctions (anatase/rutile) and high crystalline.