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Branched mesoporous TiO2 mesocrystals by epitaxial assembly of micelles for photocatalysis

  • Pengfei Zhang
  • , Zhangliu Tian
  • , Chin Te Hung
  • , Yong Liu
  • , Bingquan Jia
  • , Kun Lan
  • , Biao Kong
  • , Fuqiang Huang
  • , Liqiang Mai
  • , Dongyuan Zhao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

The understanding and control of the structural complexity of mesoporous semiconductors with single-crystal-like nature are both attractive and challenging. Here, we report a crystallization-driven epitaxial assembly from monomicelles to construct branched mesoporous TiO2 mesocrystals (m-TiO2 MCs) with coherent atomic domains. The star-shaped multipods are obtained by two-step evaporation with nanocrystal mediation, primarily consisting of arms along < 001 >, < 101 >, and < 111 > crystal directions. For each arm, ordered open mesochannels arrange in parallel along the growth direction. The m-TiO2 MC multipods have a surface area of ∼116 m2/g and single-crystal-like frameworks and are good hydrogen evolution photocatalysts. Under full-spectrum irradiation, the branched m-TiO2 MCs exhibit a hydrogen evolution rate of 8 mmol h−1 g−1, which is more than four times higher than that of commercial TiO2 P25. This crystallization-driven self-assembly approach may provide valuable insight into designing programmable mesoporous mesocrystals by controlling the oriented assembly of monomicelle building blocks.

Original languageEnglish
Article number100081
Number of pages14
JournalCell Reports Physical Science
Volume1
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jul 2020
Externally publishedYes

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