Electro-Optic Modulation Induced Enhancement in Photocatalytic Activity of N-Doped TiO₂ Thin Films

Abstract

In the presence of ultraviolet light, TiO 2 photocatalyst finds a lot of applications in degradation of organic and inorganic particles present in environment as well as in water. TiO 2 nanoparticles can not be utilized effectively in presence of solar light since solar radiation has very little contribution in UV region. The photoresponse of TiO 2 can be shifted to the visible region by nitrogen doping. In the nitrogen-doped TiO 2 lattice, the oxygen vacancies are formed below the conduction band in the form of donor energy level. These vacancies increase with increasing nitrogen concentration in TiO 2 , which results in an increase in the trapping rate. This leads to enhancement of photocatalytic activity of nitrogendoped TiO 2 film. Nitrogen doping results in the creation of defects in nitrogendoped TiO 2 , which in other way leads to a modification of the work function of thin films. The observed changes in work function of these films, measured using scanning Kelvin probe microscopy, indicates the shifting of Fermi level with the introduction of defects. The study of work function as well as surface properties of thin films helps in better understanding of the photo activity of nitrogen-doped TiO 2 film.

Electrospun Mesoporous Composite CuO−Co3O4/N‐ TiO2 Nanofibers as Efficient Visible Light Photocatalysts

“…84–1285. A small peak at angle (2θ)=30.8° for (103) plane, corresponds to the nitrogen mixed in TiO 2 (NT NFs) . Expect pure TiO 2 NFs, this nitrogen peak is available for all semiconductor oxide modified with nitrogen TiO 2 nanofibers.…”

“…A small peak at angle (2q) = 30.88 for (103) plane, corresponds to the nitrogen mixed in TiO 2 (NT NFs). [45] Expect pure TiO 2 NFs, this nitrogen peak is available for all semiconductor oxide modified with nitrogen TiO 2 nanofibers. A signature peak at (2q) = 318 and 35 o , corresponding to the plane (110) and (111), respectively, along with N mixed TiO 2 peaks, are due to the presence of CuO in N mixed TiO 2 nanofibers (CuNT NFs).…”

Tuning optical band gap by electrochemical reduction in TiO2 nanorods for improving photocatalytic activities

“…In recent years, signicant effort has been devoted to improving the visible absorbance of TiO 2 to enhance its photocatalytic activity in solar light. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] A well-known approach is hetero-doped TiO 2 using impurity cations, Cr, Ag, etc., and anions, N, F, C, etc. 6,[9][10][11][12] Nitrogen-doped TiO 2 may produce sub-levels by hybridization of the N 2p and O 2p states near the valence band of TiO 2 that would improve the visible light activity.…”

A Novel Method To Prepare B/N Codoped Anatase TiO2

“…The low photocatalytic efficiency makes it difficult or even nearly impossible to be widely used. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Therefore, it is important for TiO 2 to achieve photocatalytic response in a wider range extending to visible light.…”