A facile graft polymerization approach to N-doped TiO2 heterostructures with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

We report the preparation of a N-doped TiO2 heterostructure with high activity as a visible-light-driven photocatalyst via a facile graft polymerization approach. The synthesized N-doped TiO2 heterostructure was characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Compared with TiO2, the N-doped TiO2 heterostructure exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methyl orange under visible-light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of N-doped TiO2 heterostructures could be attributed to the utilization of a large part of the solar spectrum, resulting from modification of the TiO2 electronic band structure.