LAUSR

Brookite TiO2 is a promising material for active photocatalysts. However, the principal mechanism that determines the distinctive photocatalytic activity between anatase, rutile, and brookite TiO2 has not yet been fully elucidated. Therefore, in this work, we studied the behavior of photogenerated electrons and holes in these TiO2 powders by using femtosecond to millisecond time-resolved visible to mid-IR absorption spectroscopy. We found that most of the photogenerated electrons in brookite TiO2 are trapped at powder defects within a few ps. This electron trapping decreases the number of surviving free electrons, but it extends the lifetime of holes as well as the trapped electrons because the probability of electrons to encounter holes is decreased by this electron-trapping. As a result, the number of surviving holes increases, which is beneficial for photocatalytic oxidation. In contrast, the reactivity of electrons is decreased to some extent by trapping, but they still remain active for photocatalyti...