One-step fabrication of Ce–N-codoped TiO2 nano-particle and its enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance and mechanism

•Ce–N–TiO2 catalysts were fabricated through sol–gel strategy in the absence of water system.•The light absorbance of Ce–N–TiO2 catalyst was red-shifted to visible region.•The physicochemical properties of Ce–N–TiO2 catalysts were investigated systematically.•The enhanced visible light PC mechanism was proposed and confirmed.

Ce, N codoped TiO2 nano-particles were fabricated through sol–gel strategy in the absence of water. Results revealed that Ce was not implanted into the lattice of TiO2 and existed as the forms of small cluster CeO2 which uniformly diffused onto the surface or interstitial site of TiO2, while N dopants were successfully incorporated into the structure of TiO2 by substituting the lattice oxygen atoms and existed as the forms of N–Ti–O bonds, thereby resulting in the formation of impurity level above the valence band of TiO2 and enhancement of visible photocatalytic (PC) performance. The enhanced visible PC mechanism was discussed.

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