Defective TiO2 with oxygen vacancy and nanocluster modification for efficient visible light environment remediation

• Defective TiO2 with oxygen vacancy was prepared by controlling the reduction temperature and time.
• Optimum oxygen vacancy in TiO2 enhanced the photocatalytic activity but did not enhance the visible light absorption.
• Large amount of oxygen vacancies in TiO2 sharply decreased the photocatalytic activity.
• Defective TiO2 with oxygen vacancy and Cu(II) nanoclusters grafting exhibited much enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity.

Defective TiO2 with oxygen vacancy and Cu(II) nanocluster modification has been prepared by reducing in hydrogen atmosphere followed with an impregnation process. The obtained TiO2 samples with optimum oxygen vacancy did not show visible light enhancement. However, the photocatalytic performances of TiO2 samples with larger amount of oxygen vacancies were sharply decreased, even they exhibited much enhanced visible light absorptions. After the modification of Cu(II) nanoclusters, the reduction TiO2 with optimum oxygen vacancy presented much enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance for organic decomposition both in water and air, compared with unreduced TiO2 and other reduced TiO2 samples. Thus, this work provides a facile and efficient route to enhance the photocatalytic performance of TiO2 for practical applications.

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