Electronic Structure and Band Alignments of Various Phases of Titania Using the Self-Consistent Hybrid Density Functional and DFT plus U Methods

To understand, and thereby rationally optimize photoactive interfaces, it is of great importance to elucidate the electronic structures and band alignments of these interfaces. For the first-principles investigation of these properties, conventional density functional theory (DFT) requires a solution to mitigate its well-known bandgap underestimation problem. Hybrid functional and Hubbard U correction are computationally efficient methods to overcome this limitation, however, the results are largely dependent on the choice of parameters. In this study, we employed recently developed self-consistent approaches, which enable non-empirical determination of the parameters, to investigate TiO2 interfacial systems-the most prototypical photocatalytic systems. We investigated the structural, electronic, and optical properties of rutile and anatase phases of TiO2. We found that the self-consistent hybrid functional method predicts the most reliable structural and electronic properties that are comparable to the experimental and high-level GW results. Using the validated self-consistent hybrid functional method, we further investigated the band edge positions between rutile and anatase surfaces in a vacuum and electrolyte medium, by coupling it with the Poisson-Boltzmann theory. This suggests the possibility of a transition from the straddling-type to the staggered-type band alignment between rutile and anatase phases in the electrolyte medium, manifested by the formation of a Stern-like layer at the interfaces. Our study not only confirms the efficacy of the self-consistent hybrid functional method by reliably predicting the electronic structure of photoactive interfaces, but also elucidates a potentially dramatic change in the band edge positions of TiO2 in aqueous electrolyte medium which can extensively affect its photophysical properties.