Preparation of boron-doped TiO2 films by autoclaved-sol method at low temperature and study on their photocatalytic activity

A series of uniform and transparent boron-doped TiO2 films were synthesized from autoclaved-sol without organic solvent at low temperature. As-prepared B-TiO2 films with two layers were characterized by XRD, DRS, XPS and AFM. The photocatalytic characteristics were measured based on the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) solution under visible or UV light. The results indicated that the anatase phase was the main crystal form of the films, containing a small amount of brookite. The presence of boron caused a red shift in the absorption band of TiO2 films. The doped boron was mainly presented in the form of B2O3, O–Ti–B and O–Ti–B bonds, confirming that autoclaved-sol synthesis at low temperature allowed for incorporation of boron atoms into the TiO2 matrix. Transmission of the films was about 90% in the visible region. The 10% (atom) B-TiO2 film exhibited the best photocatalytic activity both in visible and UV light.