Reversible Photodoping of TiO2 Nanoparticles for Photochromic Applications
Chemistry of Materials 2018
Urmas Joost, Andris Šutka, Marek Oja, Krisjanis Smits, Nicola Dobelin, Ardi Loot, Martin Järvekülg, Mika Hirsimaki, Mika Valden, Ergo Nõmmiste

Observations on the strong photochromic effect of crystalline TiO2 quantum dots (mean size ≈ 4 nm) are presented. The synthesized quantum dots consist of irregularly shaped anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) and are dispersed in butanol (8% by mass). Obtained NPs exhibit a dramatic photoresponse to UV light, enabling effective transmittance modulation in a broad wavelength range extending from the visible to near-infrared region, and even the thermal black body radiation regime beyond 10 μm. The exceptional photoresponse is attributed to hole-scavenging by butanol, TiO2 self-reduction, injection of electrons to the conduction band, and consequent localized surface plasmon resonances in NPs. The observed optical effect is reversible, and the initial high transmittance state can be restored simply by exposing the NPs to air. The applied NP synthesis route is economic and can be easily scaled for applications such as smart window technologies.


Keywords
TiO2, nanoparticles, photodoping, photochromic
DOI
10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b04813
Hyperlink
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b04813

Joost, U., Šutka, A., Oja, M., Smits, K., Dobelin, N., Loot, A., Järvekülg, M., Hirsimaki, M., Valden, M., Nõmmiste, E. Reversible Photodoping of TiO2 Nanoparticles for Photochromic Applications. Chemistry of Materials, 2018, Vol.30, No.24, pp.8968-8974. ISSN 0897-4756. e-ISSN 1520-5002. Available from: doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b04813

Publication language
English (en)
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