Photoelectric conversion performances of Mn doped TiO2 under >420 nm visible light irradiation

Abstract Mn doped TiO 2 was synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of titanium boride and manganese chloride. The doped nano powders were fabricated by adding ammonium water into the mother solution which was obtained hydrothermally. The calcination of precursory powders took place at the temperature of 400–600 °C which resulted in the formation of anatase with a small amount of rutile phase. The shift of valence band maximum (VBM) toward the lower binding energies was observed by measuring the position of VBM with reference to the Fermi level, which contributed to the significant red-shift of absorption edges. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement shows that manganese exists in both 4+ and 3+ valance states, which may have a temperate replacing of Ti 4+ because of the charge compensation compared with 2+ and 3+ valence states. The property of photoelectric conversion was detected by evaluating the photocurrent under visible light (>420 nm), and the fluorescence spectra also proved that 6%-Mn doped TiO 2 (DM6) shows a better photoelectric conversion performance.