Preparation of Ti3+ Self-Doped TiO₂ Material by One Simple Vacuum Heat Treatment and its Simulated Solar Photocatalytic Performance.

Ti 3 + self-doped TiO₂ particles were prepared by simple vacuum heat treatment using TiO₂ powder and Ti powder as raw materials. The structure, morphology, and elemental presence of the prepared samples were characterized and analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ultraviolet–visible light diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–Vis DRS). The XRD results indicate that Ti doping caused lattice distortion in TiO₂. XPS analysis shows that the sample contained Ti 3 + . The DSC result indicates that this Ti 3 + self-doped TiO₂ has stronger absorption in the visible light region. Under simulated sunlight irradiation, the prepared samples exhibit significantly better photocatalytic degradation performance than TiO₂ raw materials for methylene blue (MB) solution. When the ratio of TiO₂ to Ti material was 12:1, the sample achieves the highest catalytic activity, with a degradation rate of MB reaching 99.5% within 45 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]