Effect of Nitrogen Doping on Photocatalytic Activity of TiO2

Abstract

Nitrogen doped TiO2 nanoparticles (N-doped TiO2) in different mol percentage (2-6 mol%) of nitrogen with anatase phase, have been prepared by using EDTA-glycol method. Samples were characterized by various physico-chemical techniques. Physico-chemical characterization revealed that crystallite size, surface hydroxylation, and tuning of optical band gap towards visible region of catalyst increases with increase in dopant concentration upto 4.0 mol% in TiO2 host lattice. Thereafter, the samples were used to photocatalytic degradation of the organic dye methylene blue (MB) under sunlight irradiation directly. The progress of photodegradation reaction was monitored by UV-visible spectroscopy. During photocatalytic reaction, the effect of calcination temperature, amount of catalyst, initial concentration of dye and the effect of pH on the rate of degradation reaction was also studied. It is clearly shown that N doping in TiO2 results in the enhancement of the degradation ability of MB in UV-visible light.