Green solid-state synthesis and photocatalytic hydrogen production activity of anatase TiO2 nanoplates with super heat-stability

A simple and environmentally friendly new method, a low-heating solid-state chemical method (LSCM), has been used to prepare uniform NH4TiOF3 nanoplates with a thickness of about 100 nm in the absence of surfactants. The solid-solid transformation was used to convert NH4TiOF3 nanoplates to TiO2 nanoplates with an exposed (001) facet via a simple sintering process at different temperatures. The anatase TiO2 nanoplates obtained in this work have super heat-stability, and can withstand high temperatures and maintain highly active anatase up to 1000 degrees C. The obtained compact TiO2 nanoplates have high photocurrent density and photocatalytic hydrogen-production activity, better than as prepared TiO2 porous nanoplates and reported values in the literature, which is due to the exposed (001) facet and the high degree of crystallinity. This work provides a simple, efficient and environmentally friendly way to prepare TiO2 nanoplates and nanoparticles, and also offers a new approach for preparing anatase TiO2 with super heat-stability and high reactivity, which can be applied to H-2-production via photocatalytic water splitting.