TY - JOUR A1 - Wintzheimer, S. A1 - Szczerba, Wojciech A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Kashiwaya, S. A1 - Klein, A. A1 - Jaegermann, W. A1 - Toupance, T. A1 - Shmeliov, A. A1 - Nicolosi, V. A1 - Heuzé, K. A1 - Mandel, K. A1 - Dembski, S. T1 - Discovering the determining parameters for the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 colloids based on an anomalous dependence on the specific surface area N2 - The photocatalytic (PC) performance of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles strongly depends on their specific surface, the presence of crystal defects, their crystal phase, and the exposed crystal facets. In order to understand which of these factors contributes most significantly to the PC activity of TiO2 colloids, all of them have to be individually analyzed. This study entails the synthesis of five anatase nanocrystal samples. By maintaining the same reactant ratios as well as hydrothermal sol–gel synthesis route and only varying the autoclaving time or temperature, different crystallite sizes are obtained under comparable experimental conditions. A decrease in PC performance with increase in specific surface area is found. Such an unexpected counterintuitive result establishes the basis for a better understanding of the crucial factors that ultimately determine the PC activity. These are investigated by studying nanocrystals bulk and surface structure and morphology using a selection of complementary analysis methods (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), X-ray diffraction (XRD)…). It is found that a change in the nanocrystal morphology from an equilibrium state truncated tetragonal bipyramid to a more elongated rod-like structure accompanied by an increase in oxygen vacancies is responsible for an augmented PC activity of the TiO2 nanocrystals. KW - Ti-based colloids KW - Photocatalysis KW - Spectroscopy KW - XAFS PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ppsc.201800216 SN - 0934-0866 SN - 1521-4117 VL - 35 IS - 9 SP - 1800216, 1 EP - 10 PB - Wiley Online Library AN - OPUS4-46068 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Karafiludis, Stephanos A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Heinekamp, Christian A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - ten Elshof, J. E. A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Stawski, Tomasz T1 - Template-free synthesis of mesoporous, amorphous transition metal phosphate materials N2 - We present how mesoporosity can be engineered in transition metal phosphate (TMPs) materials in a template-free manner. The method involves a transformation of a precursor metal phosphate phase, called M-struvite (NH4MPO4·6H2O, M = Mg2+, Ni2+, Co2+, NixCo1-x2+). It relies on the thermal decomposition of crystalline M-struvite precursors to an amorphous and simultaneously mesoporous phase, which forms while degassing of NH3 and H2O. The temporal evolution of mesoporous frameworks and the response of the metal coordination environment were followed with in-situ and ex-situ scattering and diffraction, as well as X -ray spectroscopy. Despite sharing the same precursor struvite structure, different amorphous and mesoporous structures were obtained depending on the involved transition metal. We highlight the systematic differences in absolute surface area, pore shape, pore size, and phase transitions depending on a metal cation present in the analogous M-struvites. The amorphous structures of thermally decomposed Mg-, Ni- and NixCo1-x-struvites exhibit high surface areas and pore volumes (240 m²g-1 and 0.32 cm-3 g-1 for Mg and 90 m²g-1 and 0.13 cm-3 g-1 for Ni). We propose that the low-cost, environmentally friendly M-struvites could be obtained as recycling products from industrial and agricultural wastewaters. These waste products could be then upcycled into mesoporous TMPs through a simple thermal treatment for further applications, for instance, in (electro)catalysis. KW - Struvite KW - Pphosphates KW - Transition metal KW - In-situ SAXS/WAXS KW - Mesoporosity PY - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-569503 SN - 2040-3364 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-56950 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -