Mo plus C Codoped TiO2 Using Thermal Oxidation for Enhancing Photocatalytic Activity

The photocatalytic activity of TiO2 is enhanced mainly through heightening absorption of UV vis light and improving the separation efficiency of photoinduced electrons and holes. The recent new theoretical research revealed that the TiO2 codoped with Mo + C is considered to be an optimal doping system. On the basis of this theory, the Mo + C codoped TiO2 powders were first experimentally synthesized by thermal oxidizing a mixture of TiC and MoO3 powders in the air. The XRD patterns and the XPS survey spectrum showed that carbon (C) acted as a Ti-O-C band structure and molybdenum (Mo) existed as Mo6+ in anatase TiO2. The Mo+C codoped TiO2 had a 32 nm red shift of the spectrum onset compared with pure anatase TiO2, and its band gap was reduced from 3.20 to 2.97 eV. The photocurrent of the Mo + C codoped TiO2 was about 4 times as high as that of pure anatase TiO2, and its photocatalytic activity on decomposition of methylene blue was enhanced.