Improved visible light photocatalytic activity of fluorine and nitrogen co-doped TiO 2 with tunable nanoparticle size

Junyang Cheng, Jin Chen, Wei Lin, Yandong Liu, Yan Kong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fluorine and nitrogen co-doped TiO 2 (F-N-TiO 2 ) photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic activities were facilely synthesized by a simple one-step hydrothermal method using Ti(SO 4 ) 2 as an economical precursor, and hydrofluoric acid and ammonia as F and N source, respectively. The structure, morphology, and optical properties of produced nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) methods. The synergistic effects of F and N doping were systematically examined by changing the molar ratio of F/N. Compared with the un-doped F or N mono-doped TiO 2 , the co-doped samples exhibited significantly improved photocatalytic performance due to their synergistic effects under visible light. It was shown that F dopant promoted the crystal growth and crystallinity of samples, while N dopant hindered it to some extent, which resulted in the tunable particle size of obtained F-N-TiO 2 materials. The effects of F and N dopants on the enhanced photocatalytic activity of modified TiO 2 materials were also discussed. The degradation rate of methylene blue (MB) was achieved at 97.31% after 5 h reaction under visible light over the optimized sample of FN 3.5 T. The materials also showed excellent stability according to the recycling tests of the photodegradation of MB.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)573-580
Number of pages8
JournalApplied Surface Science
Volume332
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 Mar 2015

Keywords

  • Co-dopants
  • Methylene blue
  • Photocatalysis
  • Synergistic effect
  • Titanium dioxide

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Improved visible light photocatalytic activity of fluorine and nitrogen co-doped TiO 2 with tunable nanoparticle size'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this