Conductive Nb-doped TiO₂ thin films with whole visible absorption to degrade pollutants

Abstract

Niobium-doping makes both intrinsic UV absorption and UV-vis-IR free-carrier absorption occur in TiO2 and improves the photocatalytic performance.

The Role of Nb Addition in TiO2 Nanoparticles: Phase Transition and Photocatalytic Properties

“…The authors investigated the optical properties of the TiO 2 anatase phase, observing a slight reduction with the addition of Nb ions, that is, 3.25 eV ( x = 0.0) to 3.18 eV ( x = 8.3 mol.%) . Similar results have been reported for Ti 1− x Nb i O 2 solid solutions prepared by different routes …”

“…[47] Similar results have been reported for Ti 1Àx Nb i O 2 solid solutions prepared by different routes. [15,17,23,57,81] Figure 6(A,B) show the evolution in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) dyes for the selected pristine (x ¼ 0.0) and Nb-doped (x ¼ 0.037) TiO 2 samples, respectively, annealed at 400 and 900 C.…”

“…[27,31,56] The addition of transition metals ions (e.g., Fe, Co, and Nb) into the TiO 2 lattice has been an efficient way to enhance the (photo) catalytic activity. [9,57,58] Among them, the Ti 1Àx Nb x O 2 solid solutions present a remarkable increase of energy-conversion efficiency [15,20,23] leading to a better photocatalytic performance under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation compared to pristine TiO 2 samples. [17,20,36] By investigating the effect of Nb doping on morphology, crystalline structure, optical gap energy, and the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye on TiO 2 thin films, [59] Lee and co-workers observed that addition of Nb 5þ ions into the TiO 2 compound affected its structural and morphological properties, besides improving its photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue dye.…”

Preparation of a Ti0.7W0.3O2/TiO2 nanocomposite interfacial photocatalyst and its photocatalytic degradation of phenol pollutants in wastewater

“…Among oxide semiconductor photocatalysts, TiO 2 nanomaterials have been studied and applied widely in photocatalysis for their high photocatalytic activity, stability, nontoxicity and low cost. A variety of functional TiO 2 nanomaterials have been synthetized, such as nanoparticles (NPs), [4][5][6][7][8][9] nanotubes (NTs), 10,11 nanowires (NWs), [12][13][14][15] nanocrystal lms [16][17][18][19][20] and nanotube arrays, [21][22][23][24][25] which have been widely used in solar energy storage and utilization, photodegradation of pollutants and noble metal recycling.…”

“…As expected, this helped to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO 2 . [5][6][7][8][9]11,14,15,19,20,22,25,[31][32][33] However, noble metals are scarce and particularly expensive, which may limit their large-scale application. Thus, novel relatively economical photocatalysts are highly desirable.…”