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Preparation and visible-light photocatalyst activity of nanometric-sized TiO2-xNy powders from a two-microemulsion process

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Abstract

Nanometric-sized nitrogen-doped titanium oxide (TiO2-xNy) powders were synthesized by the two-microemulsion technology. The dried precursor precipitate was characterized by differential thermal analysis/thermogravimetric analysis, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmet-Teller, and x-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), and the mechanisms for the evolution of TiO2-xNy powders in this process were proposed and discussed in the context of the microstructure. It shows that a higher pH value solution results in obtaining a small size and much more homogeneous TiO2-xNy powder after calcinations. The powder prepared from a solution of pH 10–11 and calcined at 500 °C has a particle size of ∼4–6 nm with a specific surface area of 160 m2/g and exhibits a pure phase of anatase containing ∼5 mol% of N evidenced by XPS. However, the nanometric-sized TiO2-xNy powder shows the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue solution effectively by exposing the powders in aqueous solution under visible light.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Wein-Duo Yang & I-Lun Huang

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Kun Shan University, Tainan, Taiwan, 710, Republic of China

    Wen-Chung Lin

  3. Department of Applied Chemistry, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, People’s Republic of China

    Chunhui Yang

  4. Chemical Engineering Division, Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Lungtan, Taoyuan, Taiwan, 325, Republic of China

    Zen-Ja Chung

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  1. Wein-Duo Yang
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  2. Wen-Chung Lin
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  5. I-Lun Huang
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Yang, WD., Lin, WC., Yang, C. et al. Preparation and visible-light photocatalyst activity of nanometric-sized TiO2-xNy powders from a two-microemulsion process. Journal of Materials Research 24, 2574–2583 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2009.0301

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2009.0301

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