Abstract
Amorphous TiO2 doped with N was characterized by its photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. The amorphous N-doped TiO2 was prepared by the sol-gel method through heat treatment at a low temperature. The photocatalyst showing activity in visible light despite heat treatment at low temperature can be applied to plastics and has excellent utility. The N-doped TiO2 appeared amorphous when heat-treated at 130 °C. It was converted into an anatase-type N-doped TiO2 when this was calcined at 500 °C. The photocatalyst showed photocatalytic activities in the photocatalytic decomposition of formaldehyde and methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The photocatalyst exhibited a higher rate of hydrogen production than that of TiO2 in photocatalytic decomposition of water under liquid-phase plasma irradiation. The bandgap of the amorphous N-doped TiO2 measured by investigation of optical properties was 2.4 eV. The lower bandgap induced the photocatalytic activities under visible light irradiation.
Highlights
Pure TiO2 has a high bandgap energy and can exhibit photocatalytic activity only in the UV region
The hydrogen production property of N-doped TiO2 (N/TiO2) was evaluated from water photocatalytic decomposition by liquid phase plasma (LPP) irradiation
The N/TiO2 appeared as amorphous in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern
Summary
Pure TiO2 has a high bandgap energy and can exhibit photocatalytic activity only in the UV region. There have been many attempts to expand the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 to the visible-light region [1,2,3,4]. N-doped TiO2 (N/TiO2) exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity as electrons in the valance band (VB) are excited to the conduction band (CB) even in the visible-light region [9,10]. The N/TiO2 photocatalyst obtained through a calcination at a high temperature of 400 ◦C or higher exhibits an anatase form.
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