Aerosol flow synthesis of N, Si-codoped TiO2 hollow microspheres with enhanced visible-light driven photocatalytic performance

In this study, porous N, Si-codoped TiO2 hollow microsphere photocatalysts have been prepared by a facile aerosol flow synthesis method. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-vis DRS, and XPS. The results indicated that both nitrogen doping and formation of Ti-O-Si bond happened in the N, Si-codoped TiO2 hollow microspheres, leading to an enhanced visible-light driven photocatalytic performance on degradation of salicylic acid compared with pure TiO2 and single N or Si doped TiO2 counterpart catalysts. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.