Defect disorder of titanium dioxide

J Phys Chem B. 2006 Nov 2;110(43):21560-7. doi: 10.1021/jp063700k.

Abstract

The present work derived defect disorder diagram representing the effect of oxygen activity on the concentration of both ionic and electronic defects for undoped TiO2. This diagram was determined using the equilibrium constants derived in the present work, including (i) the intrinsic electronic equilibrium constant, (ii) the equilibrium constant for the formation of oxygen vacancies, and (iii) equilibrium constant for the formation of titanium vacancies. These equilibrium constants are consistent with three properties determined independently, including: electrical conductivity, thermoelectric power and change of mass determined by thermogravimetry. The derived defect disorder diagram may be used for tailoring semiconducting properties of TiO2 that are desired for specific applications through the selection of optimized processing conditions.