Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic activity of N-doped TiO<inf>2</inf>nanocrystals

• Key Words:Doping (additives);Degradation - Energy gap - High resolution transmission electron microscopy - Light - Nanocrystals - Photocatalysis - Photocatalysts - Reaction kinetics - Scanning electron microscopy - Titanium dioxide - Transmission electron microscopy - X ray diffraction;Crystal violet - First order reactions - Langmuir Hinshelwood mechanism - Nitrogen-doping - Photocatalytic activities - TiO2 nanocrystals - UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra - Visible light
• Abstract:N-doped TiO<inf>2</inf>nanocrystals were prepared using titanium alkoxide as precipitant with different proportional materials. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra. It is confirmed experimentally that the photocatalytic activity of N-doped TiO<inf>2</inf>is much higher than that of Degussa P25, when used for the degradation of crystal violet. The degradation kinetics follows an apparent first-order reaction, which is consistent with a generally observed Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. The doping of TiO<inf>2</inf>with nitrogen significantly increases the absorption in the region of visible light. The energy of the band gap of N-doped TiO<inf>2</inf>is 2.92 eV. The better performance of N-doped TiO<inf>2</inf>can be explained by the fact that it is also excited with longer-wavelength light. &copy; 2009 University of Science and Techonogy Beijing.<br/>
• Volume:16
• Issue:6
• Translation or Not:no