Fabrication of Ti³⁺ Self-doped TiO₂ via a Facile Carbothermal Reduction with Enhanced Photodegradation Activities

Herein, we report a new and facile carbothermal reduction method to prepare Ti³⁺ self-doped titanium dioxide (TiO₂) using inorganic carbon powder as a reducing agent. As-prepared samples were thoroughly characterized by XRD, Raman, SEM, UV-DRS, EPR, XPS, and BET. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared nanomaterials was explored using the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under Xe light illumination. The self-doped TiO₂ (TiO₂-C_0.5-600) exhibits high photodegradation activity with the degradation efficiency of 97% in 120 min. The improved performance could be because of the separation of photogenerated carriers and the narrowing of band gap due to the introduction of Ti³⁺ and oxygen vacancy. Overall, our work demonstrates a simple, environmentally friendly, and economical synthesis method for narrowing the band gap and developing a highly photocatalytic material, thereby opening a new avenue in the field of wastewater treatment.