Origin of photoactivity of oxygen-deficient TiO2 under visible light

As it is now well established that oxygen vacancies are spontaneously introduced during nitrogen doping of anatase TiO2, there is a lively debate on whether nitrogen dopant or oxygen vacancy contributes to the visible light photoactivity of the doped catalyst. We showed that the coordinately unsaturated Ti site is integral to the visible light photoactivity in anatase oxygen-deficient TiO2 catalyst. Accordingly, oxygen vacancies may contribute to the visible light photoactivities in N-doped TiO2 and other nonmetallic ion-doped TiO2 as well. A redox active visible light photocatalyst has been developed based on oxygen-deficient structure in anatase TiO2.