Scalable preparation of defect-rich free-standing TiO2 sheets with visible-light photocatalytic activity

In this research, two interesting phenomena were reported and analyzed: First, two-dimensional tiny titania nanoplates (4–5 nm lateral size, 0.4–0.5 nm thickness) with rich edge-defects were found to self-assemble into free-standing thin sheets with large lateral size in a freeze-drying process with the aid of linker; Second, when subjected to a moderate hydrogenation treatment, these self-assembled sheets could be crystallized into integral anatase sheets while the edge-defects of the building blocks were maintained on the surface or inside the body of the crystal and the flexible sheet-like shape were also maintained. Based on these observations, a method for scalable preparing free-standing defect-rich TiO 2 with a two-dimensional sheet-like morphology was proposed. The defects (oxygen vacancies) endowed the TiO 2 a grayish-black color and visible-light responsibility. By using the dispersion of these defect-rich anatase sheets, a film could be densely deposited on flexible substrates in a layered structure and showed an efficient performance in acetaldehyde decomposition under the irradiation of visible light. Since it has always been a technical challenge to prepare crystallized visible-light-driven TiO 2 films on plastic substrates with a low heat tolerance, this work may also provide a new approach to this problem.