Facile Synthesis of Fluorine Doped Rutile TiO2 Nanorod Arrays for Photocatalytic Removal of Formaldehyde

It is crucial to explore a facile synthesis of rutile TiO2 nanorods anchored at carbon cloth at low temperature for applicable air purifier. Herein, antler-like TiO2 rectangular bunched arrays were grown on carbon cloth by a hydrothermal method, and fluorine was doped into TiO2 with solid diffusion of NH4F at 300 degrees C. Fluorine doping induces oxygen vacancies in TiO2, facilitating the charge transfer and providing more active sites for photocatalytic reactions. The F doped TiO2 exhibits excel- lent photocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde under UV and visible LED irradiation. UV-vis DRS and UPS results indicate that 3F-T@CC can harvest more visible light, and has the suitable energy band structure to generate hydroxyl radical and superoxide radical for the effective degradation of formaldehyde. EPR measurements prove the photogenerated superoxide radial (center dot O-2(-)) and hydroxyl radical (OH) are involved in oxidizing formaldehyde into CO2 and H2O. [GRAPHICS] .