Enhanced Photocatalytic CO2-Reduction Activity of Anatase TiO2 by Coexposed 001 and 101 Facets

Control of TiO2 crystal facets has attracted enormous interest due to the fascinating shape-dependent photocatalytic activity of this material. In this work, the effect of the ratio of 001 and 101 facets on the photocatalytic CO2-reduction performance of anatase TiO2 is reported. A new "surface heterojunction" concept is proposed on the basis of the density functional theory (DFT) calculations to explain the difference in the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 with coexposed 001 and 101 facets.