Bismuth doping effect on crystal structure and photodegradation activity of Bi–TiO2 nanoparticles

Abstract

The bismuth precursor is adopted as dopant to synthesize bismuth doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles (Bi–TiO2 NPs) with sol–gel method following by the thermal annealing treatment. We systematically developed a series of Bi–TiO2 NPs at several calcination temperatures and discovered the corresponding crystal structure by varying the bismuth doping concentration. At a certain 650 °C calcination temperature, the crystal structure of bismuth titanate (Bi2Ti2O7) is formed when the bismuth doping concentration is as high as 10.0 mol %. The photocatalytic activity of Bi–TiO2 NPs is increased by varying the doping concentration at the particular calcination temperature. By the definition X-ray diffraction (XRD) structural identification, a phase diagram of Bi–TiO2 NPs in doping concentration versus calcination temperature is provided. It can be useful for further study in the crystal structure engineering and the development of photocatalyst.