Direct solvethermal growth of hierarchical porous TiO₂ nanosheets with high photocatalytic activity

Hierarchical porous anatase TiO₂ nanosheets exposed with the high-reactive {001} facets were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. Each TiO₂ nanosheet is found to be composed of several much thinner {001} facets dominated nanosheets, hence the specific surface area and the percentage of the {001} facets were significantly enlarged. The thinner nanosheet also facilitates the transport of the photogenerated electrons and holes to the particle surface, resulting in the formation of a large amount of high-reactive radicals and holes for photocatalystic oxidation reaction. Remarkably, due to the special structure of as-prepared TiO₂, it exhibits a superior photocatalytic degradation capacity for organic dyes than microsized anatase TiO₂ sheet dominated by the {001} facets.