Nitrogen modified nanostructured titania: electronic, structural and visible-light photocatalytic properties

Nitrogen doped titanium dioxide (N-TiO2) powders were synthesized as the hydrolysis condensation product of tetrabutyl titanate reaction with urea. Following adequate thermal treatment, nitrogen was introduced at interstitial lattice sites, mostly near the surface of the nanocrystals. These defects, detectable by Raman spectroscopy, induce a shift of the energy band gap to the visible range (at about 2.3 eV) that justifies significant visible light photocatalytic activity towards degradation of methyl orange (MO) pollutant. (c) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.