Anatase TiO2 film with dominant (001) facets prepared by radio frequency atmospheric pressure plasma

Anatase TiO 2 nanosheets film with dominant (001) facets (TF-1) has attracted widespread research interest owing to wide-ranging industrial applications and fundamental importance. In this work, we prepared TF-1 with well adhesion on quartz substate in a short time (20 min) by radio frequency (RF) pulse-modulated plasma with hydrofluoric acid (HF) as the morphology controlling agent (MCA). Many intercrossed nanosheets were observed on the surface of TF-1 through SEM images, which provides more exposed reactive (001) facets. The degree of truncation ( B / A ) and the percentage of exposed (001) facets ( S 001 / S ) were estimated by XRD patterns and Raman spectra, which have been increased due to the presence of HF. XPS results indicate that F atoms are only adsorbed on anatase surface rather than doped into TiO 2 lattice. The functions of HF on the growth of anatase TiO 2 nanosheets were studied by density functional theory (DFT), revealing the stabilization effects associated with chemisorbed fluorine (F) atoms over (001) surface, and thus stimulating its preferred growth.