Open AccessSynthesis and Characterization of Pure and Nitrogen Doped Titanium Oxide Nanocrystallites for Visible Light Photocatalytic Applications
Author(s) -
R. Girija,
S. Stella Mary,
Ganesh Balakrishnan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
asian journal of chemistry/asian journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.145
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 0975-427X
pISSN - 0970-7077
DOI - 10.14233/ajchem.2021.23088
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , crystallite , anatase , photoluminescence , titanium oxide , tetragonal crystal system , band gap , visible spectrum , doping , chemistry , rutile , titanium , materials science , nuclear chemistry , chemical engineering , analytical chemistry (journal) , phase (matter) , catalysis , crystallography , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , engineering
The pure and nitrogen doped titanium oxide (TiO2) nanocrystallites were synthesized using sol-geltechnique. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized to examine the microstructural, opticaland photocatalytic properties. The XRD studies of pure and doped TiO2 showed the formation ofpolycrystalline tetragonal structure with anatase phase. The crystallite sizes were calculated and foundto be 17 and 15 nm for the pure and N-doped TiO2, respectively. FTIR studies indicated that theN-doped TiO2 bands are stronger compared with pure TiO2, indicating the more hydroxyl groups.FESEM studies showed the uniform formation of TiO2 nanocrystallites and spherical in shape withagglomeration. The photoluminescence spectra of the samples show emission peaks, indicating theband to band shift having the energy gap of 2.9 eV. The photocatalytic performance of the nanocatalystwas studied using methylene blue dye under visible light irradiation for 90 min. The photocatalyticefficiency of 66.9% and 85.8% is obtained for the pure and N-doped TiO2, respectively.