Making Photo-selective TiO2 Materials by Cation-Anion Codoping: From Structure and Electronic Properties to Photoactivity

Photoselective oxidation yielding high-added value chemicals appears as a green novel process with potential to be explored. In this study we combine spectroscopic XPS (N 1s and O 1s) and multiwavelength Raman data with density functional theory calculations to explore the structural and electronic properties of W,N-codoped TiO2 anatase surfaces and interpret the outstanding photocatalytic properties of such a system in partial oxidation reactions. Theoretical calculations allow us to examine several substitutional and N-interstitial configurations at different concentrations of the W,N dopants (similar to those experimentally found), as well as their interaction with structural point defects: Ti cation vacant sites and surface wolframyl species that are required to compensate the extra charge of the W6+ and N-containing anions. The joint use of theoretical and experimental XPS and Raman tools renders key structural information of W,N-codoped microcrystalline TiO2 solids. The incorporation of N at substitutional positions of anatase with the concomitant presence of W=O species introduces localized states in the band gap, a result that is critical in interpreting the chemical behavior of the solids. The combination of the electronic and geometric structural information leads to a simple mechanism that rationalizes the experimentally observed photoactivity and selectivity in partial oxidation reactions.