title: Facile preparation of N-doped TiO2 at ambient temperature and pressure under UV light with 4-nitrophenol as the nitrogen source and its photocatalytic activities.
abstract: To date syntheses of nitrogen-doped TiO2 photocatalysts (TiO2-xNx) have been carried out under high temperatures and high pressures with either NH3 or urea as the nitrogen sources. This article reports for the first time the facile preparation of N-doped TiO2 (P25 titania) in aqueous media at ambient temperature and pressure under inert conditions (Ar- and N2-purged dispersions) with 4-nitrophenol (or 4-nitrobenzaldehyde) as the nitrogen source. The resulting N-doped P25 TiO2 materials were characterized by UV/Vis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies (XPS) that confirmed the presence of nitrogen within the photocatalyst; X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques confirmed the crystalline phases of the doped material. The photocatalytic activity of N-doped TiO2 was assessed through examining the photodegradation of 4-chlorophenol in aqueous media and iso-propanol as a volatile pollutant under UV/Vis and visible-light irradiation. Under visible light irradiation, undoped P25 was inactive contrary to N-doped P25 that successfully degraded 95% of the 4-chlorophenol (after 10 h) and 23% of iso-propanol (after 2.5 h).
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials & Life sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sophia University, 7-1 Kioicho, Chiyodaku, Tokyo 102-8554, Japan. horikosi@sophia.ac.jp yumapa55@hotmail.co.jp uchidah@sophia.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Horikoshi
authors.forename: Yutaro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shirasaka
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Natsuko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Horikoshi
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Serpone