Transparent nitrogen doped TiO2/WO3 composite films for self-cleaning glass applications with improved photodegradation activity

• TiO2/WO3 based composite photocatalyst manufactured by sol–gel process.
• Nitrogen doped TiO2/WO3 photocatalyst films.
• Modulation of band gap structure with nitrogen doping.
• Improved decomposition rate of organic molecules with nitrogen doped TiO2/WO3.

TiO2-based photocatalyst has been widely used by modifying the band structure owing its large band gap (∼3.2 eV) and fast recombination of electron–hole pairs. In order to modify the TiO2 base structure, WO3 component is used as the sensitizer and electron accepting species with additional dopant materials. Nitrogen-doped TiO2/WO3 composite film with high transmittance was successfully synthesized by the sol–gel spin coating method, and the nitrogen doping changes the base crystal sizes by the diffusion of nitrogen atoms into the base lattice. Photocatalytic activity is directly related to the energy band structure and surface morphology of materials. Optimally doped nitrogen atoms improve the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2/WO3 base materials, but overly doped nitrogen reduces the activity because of the electron hole recombination in the localized band state. Therefore, it is important to use the optimum amount of dopant species to improve the photocatalytic activity of the composite photocatalysts.

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