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Doping of TiO2 nanopowders with vanadium for the reduction of its band gap reaching the visible light spectrum region

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Abstract

Titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were doped with vanadium using a novel, facile, and inexpensive method. The TiO2 NPs were dispersed in a vanadyl oxalate solution prepared by dissolving vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) in oxalic acid. A short heat treatment at 400 °C applied to the dried mixture resulted in the doping of TiO2 with a net measured decrease of its band gap by about 0.5 eV, making this important semiconductor material usable in the visible light spectrum.

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Acknowledgments

The partial support from the NSEC Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing at the University of Massachusetts (National Science Foundation award no. 1025020) is gratefully acknowledged. We also acknowledge the NSF for its support (award no. 0701525) to the Nanoscopy Facility, an electron microscopy facility at UPR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, PO Box 70377, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00936-8377, USA

    Majid Ahmadi & Maxime J. F. Guinel

  2. Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, PO Box 70377, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00936-8377, USA

    Maxime J. F. Guinel

Authors
  1. Majid Ahmadi
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  2. Maxime J. F. Guinel
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Correspondence to Maxime J. F. Guinel.

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For supplementary material for this article, please visit http:// dx.doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2014.15

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Ahmadi, M., Guinel, M.J.F. Doping of TiO2 nanopowders with vanadium for the reduction of its band gap reaching the visible light spectrum region. MRS Communications 4, 73–76 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2014.15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2014.15

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