Preparation of N-TiO2 nanomaterial and evaluation of its photocatalytic activity under visible light

Abstract

In this study, nitrogen was used as a dopant to defect into the TiO2 lattice making contributions to the visible light absorption of nitrogen-doped TiO2. N-TiO2 material was prepared from K2TiF6 and NH3 as precursors. The N-TiO2 photocatalyst was prepared under the condition of 1 M NH3 solution, 14 % N/TiO2 mass ratio and the calcination temperature of TiO(OH)2 was 600 oC for 5 hours. The obtained results indicated that the simultaneous existence of both anatase and rutile phase of pattern of N-TiO2 and the average particle size was approximately 30 nm. Modification of titania with nitrogen significantly changed the light absorption ability of the catalyst. The UV-vis spectrum of N-TiO2 showed the absorption maximum at 400 nm with band gap 2.7 eV. The results of photocatalytic experiment proved that, the N-TiO2 exhibited the photocatalytic activity for degradation of methylene blue even under visible light better than that of TiO2.