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An experimental and first-principles study of the effect of B/N doping in TiO2 thin films for visible light photo-catalysis

Authors :
Uddin, Md. Nizam
Shibly, Sayed Ul Alam
Ovali, Rasim
Saiful Islam
Mazumder, Md. Motiur Rahaman
Islam, Md. Saidul
Uddin, M. Jasim
Gulseren, Oguz
Bengu, Erman
Source :
Journal of Photochemistry & Photobiology A: Chemistry. Feb2013, Vol. 254, p25-34. 10p.
Publication Year :
2013

Abstract

Abstract: Thin films of TiO2 and boron–nitrogen (B/N) co-doped TiO2 on glass substrates have been prepared by a simple sol–gel dip coating route. Titanium (IV) isopropoxide, boric acid and urea have been used as titanium, boron and nitrogen sources, respectively. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and UV–vis spectroscopy. The TiO2 thin films with co-doping of different B/N atomic ratios (0.27–20.89) showed better photo-catalytic degradation ability of methylene blue compared to that of bare-TiO2 under visible light. The TiO2 film doped with the highest atomic concentration of N showed repeatedly the best photo-catalytic performance. The high activity of co-doped TiO2 thin films toward organic degradation can be related to the stronger absorption observed in the UV–vis region, red shift in adsorption edges and surface acidity induced by B/N doping. Furthermore, several atomic models for B/N doping have been used to investigate the effect of doping on electronic structure and density of states of TiO2 through ab-initio density functional theory calculations. The computational study suggested a significant narrowing of the band gap due to the formation of midgap states and the shift of Fermi-level for the interstitial N model supporting the experimental results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
10106030
Volume :
254
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Journal of Photochemistry & Photobiology A: Chemistry
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
85903375
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotochem.2012.12.024