Ferroelectric enhancement of the photocatalytic response of Cu- doped TiO2 nanotubes induced through the addition of strontium
Résumé
The influence of adding strontium to Cu-doped TiO2 nanotubes (TNT) on the photocatalytic performance of the resulting materials was herein studied considering changes in structural, textural, optical and morphological properties. Results emphasize that up to a Sr loading of 0.8 wt%, the addition of Sr results in in situ formation of Sr-O-Ti entities on the surface of Cu-doped TNT. A direct correlation was observed between the optimized formation of surface Sr-O-Ti entities and an enhanced photocatalytic response due to improved stabilization of photogenerated charges on 0.5Cu-TiNT resulting from the ferroelectric interference of neighbouring SrTiO3 entities. Finally, ferroelectric enhancement of the photocatalytic response induced by Sr was confirmed on similar systems containing graphene oxide.