Consequences of Nitrogen Doping and Oxygen Enrichment on Titanium Local Order and Photocatalytic Performance of TiO2 Anatase

Abstract

Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) investigation of the oxygen-rich titania formed via the thermal treatment of N-doped TiO2 has revealed that the removal of N-dopants is responsible for the creation of defect sites in the titanium environment, thus triggering at high temperatures (500–800 °C) the capture of atmospheric oxygen followed by its diffusion toward the vacant sites and formation of interstitial oxygen species. The effect of the dopants on Ti coordination number and Ti–Oint and Ti–Nint bond distances has been estimated. The photocatalytic p-cresol degradation tests have demonstrated that the interband states formed by the N-dopants contribute to a greater extent to the visible-light activity than the oxygen interstitials do. However, under the UV irradiation the oxygen-rich titania shows higher efficiency in the pollutant degradation, while the N-dopants in N–TiO2 play the role of recombination sites. The presence of the surface nitrogen species in TiO2 is highly beneficial for the...