Photocatalysis

About: Photocatalysis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 67088 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2145233 citations. The topic is also known as: photocatalyst.

Carbon and Nitrogen Co-doped TiO2 with Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract: To utilize visible light more efficiently in photocatalytic reactions, carbon-doped TiO2 (C−TiO2), nitrogen-doped TiO2 (N−TiO2), and carbon and nitrogen co-doped TiO2 (C−N−TiO2) nanoparticles with different nitrogen and carbon contents were prepared by a sol−gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV−vis spectroscopy. XRD results showed that the doping of C and N atoms could suppress the crystal growth of TiO2, and the effect of C doping was more pronounced than that of N doping. XPS, UV−vis spectroscopy, and lattice parameter analysis revealed that N atoms could incorporate into the lattice of anatase through substituting the sites of oxygen atoms, while most C atoms could form a mixed layer of deposited active carbon and complex carbonate species at the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activities of obtained C−TiO2, N−TiO2, and C−N−TiO2 samples with different C and N contents were evalua...

Cross-Linked g-C3N4/rGO Nanocomposites with Tunable Band Structure and Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract: Cross-linked rather than non-covalently bonded graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4 )/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites with tunable band structures have been successfully fabricated by thermal treatment of a mixture of cyanamide and graphene oxide with different weight ratios. The experimental results indicate that compared to pure g-C3 N4 , the fabricated CN/rGO nanocomposites show narrowed bandgaps with an increased in the rGO ratio. Furthermore, the band structure of the CN/rGO nanocomposites can be readily tuned by simply controlling the weight ratio of the rGO. It is found that an appropriate rGO ratio in nanocomposite leads to a noticeable positively shifted valence band edge potential, meaning an increased oxidation power. The tunable band structure of the CN/rGO nanocomposites can be ascribed to the formation of C-O-C covalent bonding between the rGO and g-C3 N4 layers, which is experimentally confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) data. The resulting nanocomposites are evaluated as photocatalysts by photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and 4-nitrophenol under visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm). The results demonstrate that the photocatalytic activities of the CN/rGO nanocomposites are strongly influenced by rGO ratio. With a rGO ratio of 2.5%, the CN/rGO-2.5% nanocomposite exhibits the highest photocatalytic efficiency, which is almost 3.0 and 2.7 times that of pure g-C3 N4 toward photocatalytic degradation of RhB and 4-nitrophenol, respectively. This improved photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the improved visible light utilization, oxidation power, and electron transport property, due to the significantly narrowed bandgap, positively shifted valence band-edge potential, and enhanced electronic conductivity.