Nitrogen Doping and Carbon Coating Affects Substrate Selectivity of TiO2 Photocatalytic Organic Pollutant Degradation.

A series of carbon-coated, nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide photocatalysts was produced and characterized. N-doped TiO2 powder samples were prepared using a sol-gel method and subsequently used for making doped-TiO2 thin films on glass substrates. Carbon layers were coated on the films by a thermal decomposition method using catechol. Diffuse reflectance spectra and Mott-Schottky analyses of the samples proved that nitrogen doping and carbon coating can slightly lower the band gap of TiO2 , broaden its absorption to visible light and enhance its n-type character. According to photocatalytic tests against model contaminants, carbon-coated nitrogen-doped TiO2 films have better performance than simple TiO2 on the degradation of Rhodamine B dye molecules, but are poorly effective for degrading 4-chlorophenol molecules. Several possible explanations are proposed for this result, supported by scavenging experiments. This reveals the importance of a broad substrate scope when assessing new photocatalytic materials for water treatment, something which is often overlooked in many literature studies.