Enhanced photocatalytic performance of nitrogen-modified titanium dioxide

Abstract

TiO₂ precursor has been synthesized by sol-solvothermal method with tetrabutyl titanate as raw material. Nitrogen-modified TiO₂ with different reaction temperatures (150, 180, 200 °C) was successfully fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method using hydrazine hydrate as nitrogen source. The as-prepared catalyst were conducted a series of tests and the analysis results indicated that nitrogen is successfully doped in the TiO₂ lattice and exists in the form of interstitial doping and substitution doping. Furthermore, nitrogen-modified TiO₂ enhanced the photocatalytic performance for methylene orange degradation and the degradation percentage of nitrogen modified TiO₂ about reached 98%, which is higher than pure TiO₂ and P25. The enhanced photocatalytic performance is ascribed to the larger specific surface area, smaller band gap and the existence of Ti³⁺. A possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed. Furthermore, the results also indicated that the nitrogen-modified TiO₂ prepared at a reaction temperature of 180 °C has excellent photocatalytic performance.

Keywords:

• Nitrogen-modified TiO2
• hydrazine hydrate
• photocatalytic performance
• specific surface area
• methylene orange degradation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (51275203); National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFF0201204); the Key Scientific and Technological Project of Jilin Province (20180201074GX, 20190302055GX); the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M611321); the Project of Education Department of Jilin Province (JJKH20180130KJ); Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University (2019-8).