Surface photovoltage studies of nonstoichiometric rutile titanium dioxide

The aim of the present investigation was to assess how processing at elevated temperatures impacts upon the room temperature electronic structure of rutile TiO2. Consequently, strongly reduced and oxidized rutile TiO2 pellets were processed under controlled conditions and studied using surface photovoltage spectroscopy. Under illumination with photon energies above the band gap energy, reduced and oxidized rutile, respectively, displayed positive and negative surface photovoltages. This result indicates that undoped TiO2 may be tailored to promote either photoreduction or photo-oxidation reactions. Several transitions involving surface and bulk electronic states within the band gap were observed in oxidized rutile, but in contrast, similar states could not be readily distinguished in reduced rutile. A band diagram of oxidized rutile is proposed.