Microwave synthesised Pd-TiO₂ for photocatalytic ammonia production

Palladium doped anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesised by a rapid (3 min) one-pot microwave synthesis technique at low temperature and pressure. After being fully characterised by SEM, XRD, Raman, XPS and EDX, photocatalytic nitrate reduction and ammonia production were studied over various dopant levels between 0-3.97 wt% Pd and compared to similar previous literature. Improved yields of ammonia were observed with most dopant levels when compared to non-doped microwave synthesised TiO₂ with 2.65 wt% found to be the optimum dopant level producing 21.2 μmol NH₃. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of TiO₂ and Pd-TiO₂ photoelectrodes revealed improvements in charge transfer characteristics at high Pd dopant levels.