Study on Conductivity Mechanism of TiO2 with Oxygen Vacancies Prepared by FFC Process and Cathode Structures

FFC process is a vital method to replace the traditional titanium preparation methods that are of high pollution and high energy consumption. However, both low efficiency and long electrolysis time hinder the development of the FFC process. Therefore, in order to increase the deoxidation rate, the effect of cathode-geometry parameters on the deoxidation rate was investigated. Meanwhile, the quantum mechanics method was performed to analyze the conductivity mechanism of TiO2 with oxygen vacancies. Based on the experimental and calculated results, a multi-layer cathode was proposed to improve the deoxidation rate. The titanium sponge with oxygen content of 0.35%similar to 0.40% was obtained after 6 h electrolysis using this cathode, and thus the electrolysis speed was effectively improved compared to the traditional cathode. Another benefit of the multi-layer cathode is to solve the contradiction between the deoxidation rate and production of the FFC process.