title: Degradation of nitrobenzene using titania photocatalyst co-doped with nitrogen and cerium under visible light illumination.
abstract: A type of nitrogen and cerium co-doped titania photocatalyst, which could degrade nitrobenzene under visible light irradiation, was prepared by the sol-gel route. Titanium isopropoxide, ammonium nitrate, and cerium nitrate were used as the sources of titanium, nitrogen, and cerium, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffusive reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherm were employed to characterize the as-prepared photocatalyst. The degradation of nitrobenzene under visible light illumination was taken as probe reaction to evaluate the photoactivity of the co-doped photocatalyst. The commercial TiO(2) photocatalyst (Degussa P25), which was thought as a high active photocatalyst, was chosen as standard photocatalyst to contrast the photoactivity of the nitrogen and cerium co-doped titania photocatalyst. The results showed that the photocatalytic performance of the nitrogen and cerium co-doped titania was related with the calcination temperature and the component. The nitrogen atoms were incorporated into the crystal of titania and could narrow the band gap energy. The doping cerium atoms existed in the forms of Ce(2)O(3) and dispersed on the surface of TiO(2). The improvement of the photocatalytic activity was ascribed to the synergistic effects of the nitrogen and cerium co-doping.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hunan Institute of the Humanities and Science and Technology, Loudi 417000, China. ldsz0738@163.com
authors.forename: Xiang-Zhong
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Zhi-Cheng
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shan-Mei
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D002563:Cerium / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009578:Nitrobenzenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D009578:Nitrobenzenes; C009495:titanium dioxide; D002563:Cerium; D014025:Titanium; C036077:nitrobenzene; D009584:Nitrogen