Blackening of titanium dioxide nanoparticles by atomic hydrogen and the effect of coexistence of water on the blackening.

A fast blackening process of titanium dioxide nanoparticles by exposing to atomic hydrogen was studied by estimating the color of the nanoparticles. The whiteness of TiO decreased exponentially with time, which suggests a first-order reaction between atomic H and surface oxygen, whose rate constant is proportional to the ambient pressure of H. The rate constant increases as the temperature of nanoparticles at exposing to atomic hydrogen.