A first-principles theoretical simulation on the electronic structures and optical absorption properties for O vacancy and Ni impurity in TiO₂ photocatalysts

The band structures and optical absorption spectra of O vacancy and Ni ion doped anatase TiO₂ were successfully calculated and simulated by a plane wave pseudopotential method based on density functional theory (DFT). From the calculated results, a phenomenon of "impurity compensation" was found: the lower formation energy for O vacancy than Ni impurity indicated that introducing the intrinsic defect of O vacancy into Ni ion doped TiO₂ sample was very possible; the positive binding energy for the combination of O vacancy and Ni impurity indicated that two defects were apt to bind to each other; While Ni impurity produced the donor levels in the forbidden band of TiO₂, Ni impurity with O vacancy produced the acceptor levels upon which the excitation led to the photogenerated electrons with high energy and transferability. The combination of absorption spectra for O vacancy and Ni impurity with O vacancy models could reproduce the experimental measurement very well.