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High-concentration niobium (V) doping into TiO2 nanoparticles synthesized by thermal plasma processing

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Abstract

High-concentration niobium (V)-doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles of the nonequilibrium chemical composition have been synthesized via Ar/O2 radio-frequency thermal plasma oxidation of mist precursor solutions with various Nb5+ concentrations (Nb/(Ti + Nb) = 0–25.0 at.%). The solubility as high as ∼25.0 at.% has not been achieved before by wet-chemical techniques. The preferable anatase formation was attained in the plasma-synthesized powders and was enhanced by the niobium doping. All the powders were heated at high temperatures (600–800 °C) to investigate their phase transformation, band gap variation, inter-particulate binding behavior, and photocatalytic stability. The transformation from anatase to rutile was effectively inhibited by increasing the Nb5+ content. The Nb5+ doping prevented the band gap of TiO2 from narrowing after the heating. At high temperatures, Nb5+ doping could not only preserve particle size but also prevent inter-particulate binding. High concentration (25.0 at.%) Nb5+ doping retained the photocatalytic performance almost invariably irrespective of being thermally treated.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to our colleagues at NIMS, Mr. Yoshiyuki Yajima and Mr. Satoshi Takenouchi, for their chemical analysis of the synthesized nanosized powders. This work was partially supported by KAKENHI, a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B 19360334) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nano Ceramic Center, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan

    Chenning Zhang & Masashi Ikeda

  2. Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 226-8502, Japan

    Chenning Zhang & Takayuki Watanabe

  3. Department of Materials Chemistry, Hosei University, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8584, Japan

    Masashi Ikeda

  4. Nano Ceramic Center, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan

    Tetsuo Uchikoshi

  5. Nano Ceramic Center, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan

    Ji-Guang Li & Takamasa Ishigaki

  6. Department of Chemical Science and Technology, Hosei University, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8584, Japan

    Takamasa Ishigaki

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  1. Chenning Zhang
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  2. Masashi Ikeda
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Zhang, C., Ikeda, M., Uchikoshi, T. et al. High-concentration niobium (V) doping into TiO2 nanoparticles synthesized by thermal plasma processing. Journal of Materials Research 26, 658–671 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.16

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