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The Critical Effect of Niobium Doping on the Formation of Mesostructured TiO 2 : Single‐Crystalline Ordered Mesoporous Nb‐TiO 2 and Plate‐like Nb‐TiO 2 with Ordered Mesoscale Dimples
Author(s) -
Kitahara Masaki,
Shimasaki Yuta,
Matsuno Takamichi,
Kuroda Yoshiyuki,
Shimojima Atsushi,
Wada Hiroaki,
Kuroda Kazuyuki
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201501509
Subject(s) - materials science , anatase , mesoporous material , niobium , doping , rutile , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , chemical engineering , mesoporous silica , nanotechnology , photocatalysis , catalysis , metallurgy , chemistry , organic chemistry , optoelectronics , engineering
Highly ordered mesoporous niobium‐doped TiO 2 with a single‐crystalline framework was prepared by using silica colloidal crystals with ca. 30 nm in diameter as templates. The preparation of colloidal crystals composed of uniform silica nanoparticles is a key to obtain highly ordered mesoporous Nb‐doped TiO 2 . The XPS measurements of Nb‐doped TiO 2 showed the presence of Nb 5+ and correspondingly Ti 3+ . With the increase in the amount of doped Nb, the crystalline phase of the product was converted from rutile into anatase, and the lattice spacings of both rutile and anatase phases increased. Surprisingly, the increase in the amount of Nb led to the formation of plate‐like TiO 2 with dimpled surfaces on one side, which was directly replicated from the surfaces of the colloidal silica crystals.