One-step synthesis of N- and F-codoped mesoporous TiO2 photocatalysts with high visible light activity

We report on a novel approach to the synthesis of N- and F-codoped mesoporous TiO2 photocatalysts via a reproducible, rapid and single-step combustion method. TiF4 was used as the precursor to provide the source of Ti and F, while urea was used as the fuel as well as the source of the N dopant. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis spectroscopy. The specific surface areas of the samples were determined using a Quantachrome Nova 2200 for the N-2 adsorption/desorption under liquid-nitrogen temperature. Our studies show that the fabricated N- and F-codoped TiO2 photocatalysts have mesoporous structure and a very large specific surface area (155.3 m(2) g(-1)) and that the codoping of N and F significantly narrows the TiO2 bandgap energy from 3.2 to 2.45 eV. We further studied the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized N- and F-codoped mesoporous TiO2 through the decomposition of acetic acid, showing that the N- and F-codoped mesoporous TiO2 catalyst fabricated in this study exhibits superb photocatalytic activity and visible light response compared to one of the best commercially available TiO2 photocatalysts, P25.