Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Nitrogen Doped TiO2 Anatase Nano-Particle under Simulated Sunlight Irradiation

Nitrogen doped TiO2 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by the addition of ammonia water. The as-synthesized TiO2 nano-particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS). It was found that doping with nitrogen could effectively inhibit the phase transformation of TiO2 from anatase to brookite, enhance light absorption in visible region. The photocatalytic efficiency of phenol on N doped TiO2 nano-particle was higher than that of undoped and P25 TiO2, which could be attributed to the small crystallite size, high crystallinity, intense light absorption in visible region and narrow band gap energy. Further, the formation mechanism of N doped TiO2 was proposed.