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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

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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).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials & Life sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sophia University, 7-1 Kioicho, Chiyodaku, Tokyo, 102-8554, Japan

    Satoshi Horikoshi, Yutaro Shirasaka & Hiroshi Uchida

  2. Chemical Research Center, Central Glass Co. Ltd, 2-17-5 Nakadai, Kawagoe, Saitama, 350-1159, Japan

    Natsuko Horikoshi

  3. PhotoGreen Laboratory, Dipartimento di Chimica, Universita di Pavia, Via Taramelli 12, Pavia, 27100, Italy

    Nick Serpone

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  1. Satoshi Horikoshi
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  2. Yutaro Shirasaka
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  4. Natsuko Horikoshi
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  5. Nick Serpone
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Correspondence to Satoshi Horikoshi or Nick Serpone.

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Horikoshi, S., Shirasaka, Y., Uchida, H. et al. 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. Photochem Photobiol Sci 15, 1061–1070 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1039/c6pp00167j

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