Ultrathin Anatase TiO₂ Nanosheets for High‐Performance Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Abstract

An ethanol solvothermal route has been developed to prepare ultrathin anatase TiO 2 nanosheets with dominant {001} facets (≈97%), a thickness of ≈2.5 nm, and a side length of ≈200 nm. The introduction of ethanol solvent significantly enhances the content of surface chemisorbed F − on the TiO 2 nanosheet, which has a higher stability and further lowers the surface energy of {001} facets, giving rise to the large percentage of active {001} facets. Adopting well‐defined morphology, such nanosheets loaded with 1 wt% Pt exhibit an H 2 evolution rate as high as 17.86 mmol h −1 g −1 , and the corresponding apparent quantum efficiency has been determined to be 34.2%.