Preparation and characterization of Zr-N-codoped TiO2 nano-photocatalyst and its activity enhanced-mechanism

Zr-N-codoped TiO2 nano-photocatalyst was prepared through sol-gel method using ammonia water and zirconium nitrate as the source of N and Zr, respectively. The resulting materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). XRD results showed that codoping with Zr and N elements could greatly inhibit the phase transformation of TiO2 from anatase to rutile. XPS analysis indicated that Zr4+ was incorporated into the lattice of TiO2 through substituting titanium atoms. Meanwhile, N was also incorporated into the lattice of TiO2 through substituting oxygen atoms and existed in the form of N-Ti-O. DRS revealed that the light absorption edge of Zr-N-TiO2 was significantly red-shifted to visible region, leading to a narrower band gap and higher visible photocatalytic activity. The enhanced visible activity was attributed to the well anatase crystallite, intense light absorbance in visible region and narrow band gap.