Toward enhancement of TiO2 surface defect sites related to photocatalytic activity via facile nitrogen doping strategy

• Nitrogen doping occurred readily on the near surfaces of PdO in Pd@TiO2.
• Nitrogen doping leads to generate Ti3 + species or oxygen vacancies site of the surface.
• Nitrogen-doped Pd@TiO2 nanostructured nanoparticles can provide good catalytic activity toward the oxidation reaction.

This study examined the catalytic activities of three distinct N–Pd@TiO2 nanoparticles, post-annealed (at 700, 800, and 900 °C) after fabrication on silicon substrates. Systematically, HRPES and SPEM indicated that nitrogen was predominantly doped around PdO nanostructure. Particularly, we prove that photocatalytic activity in effective nitrogen doped surface area is far higher than in undoped area of Pd@TiO2 nanoparticles by measuring for oxidation reaction of benzenethiol, thioacetic acid, and thiobenzoic acid. Besides to the band gap narrowing, nitrogen doping leads to generate Ti3 + species or oxygen vacancies site of the surface, which leads to enhance the activity of surface photocatalysis.

Catalytic oxidation reactions of benzenethiol, thioacetic acid, and thiobenzoic acid on N–Pd@TiO2Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide