2-Propanol photodegradation over nitrogen-doped NaNbO3 powders under visible-light irradiation

Nitrogen-doped perovskite-type materials, yellowish NaNbO3−xNx powders, had been developed as visible-light-sensitive photocatalysts for decomposition of gaseous 2-propanol. The NaNbO3−xNx samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) light diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurement, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The UV–vis spectra confirmed that the spectral response of the NaNbO3 powders could be tuned to visible-light region by nitrogen doping technique. The photocatalytic activities of NaNbO3−xNx samples were evaluated by decomposing gaseous 2-propanol into acetone and CO2 under visible-light irradiation (400 nm<λ<520 nm). The NaNbO3−xNx sample annealed at 833 K showed the highest visible-light photocatalytic activity among all the nitrogen-doped samples. The relationship between nitrogen doping amount and photocatalytic activity of NaNbO3−xNx samples was also investigated and discussed.