Unraveling the Charge State of Oxygen Vacancies in ZrO2-x on the Basis of Synergistic Computational and Experimental Evidence

The functional properties of metal oxide semiconductors depend on intrinsic and extrinsic defects. The population of intrinsic defects is strongly affected by the synthesis method and subsequent treatments of the material, while extrinsic defects can originate from suitable doping. Stoichiometric ZrO2 is a nonreducible oxide with a large band gap. Therefore, controlling and modulating its defect profile to induce energy states in the band gap is the sole possibility to make it a photocatalyst responsive to visible light. We report a method, based on low temperature sol-gel synthesis coupled with treatments performed in mild conditions, to obtain undoped visible light-responsive ZrO2-x. The electronic structure of these materials is interpreted in relation to their oxygen vacancy defect population. On the basis of a wide set of experimental measurements (X-ray photoelectron, steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence, electron paramagnetic resonance, and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy) and supported by density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate, for the first time, the predominance of positively charged F-center oxygen vacancies that do not give rise to Zr3+ species.