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Surface Stabilization of High-Pressure TiO 2 Polymorph via High-Energy Ball Milling: Boosting Noble-Metal-Free CO 2 Photoreduction

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide High-energy ball milling (HEBM) is employed to stabilize the high-pressure TiO 2 –II polymorph as nanocrystallites anchored to anatase surfaces, producing a controllable polymorphic mixture that markedly enhances CO 2 photoreduction to CH 3 OH in aqueous media without noble metals or cocatalysts. The resulting architecture features TiO 2 –II intimately interfaced with strained anatase and a high density of extended defects (grain boundaries, phase interfaces, and dislocation terminations) hosting reactive surface species with modified electronic properties. This defect-rich configuration provides high-affinity CO 2 adsorption and activation sites. Both bulk and surface are profoundly restructured under the extreme nonequilibrium conditions of HEBM, which reproduce high-pressure transformation pathways at ambient conditions. These results highlight a green, scalable strategy for defect and polymorph engineering in TiO 2, enabling targeted surface chemistry design to improve photocatalytic CO 2 conversion.

Source: ACS Omega

DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.5c10398