Nitrogen doped TiO2 for efficient visible light photocatalytic dye degradation

In this study, Nitrogen doped TiO lt;sub gt;2 lt;/sub gt; photocatalysts were prepared by the sol gel method and physicochemical properties were characterized by Xray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence, and energy dispersive Xray spectroscopy (DRS) techniques. The XRD data indicated that the nanoparticles had the same crystals structures as the pure TiO lt;sub gt;2 lt;/sub gt;. Photocatalytic properties of the nitrogen doped TiO lt;sub gt;2 lt;/sub gt; nanocatalyst and pure TiO lt;sub gt;2 lt;/sub gt; were compared for degradation of Blue 5 dye in visible light irradiation and the DRS results showed that the band gap of doped photocatalyst was smaller than that of the undoped TiO lt;sub gt;2 lt;/sub gt; and there was a shift in the absorption band toward the visible light region. The Photocatalytic properties of the nitrogen doped TiO lt;sub gt;2 lt;/sub gt; nanocatalyst wereemployed for degradation of crystal Blue 5 dye under visible light irradiation. The effects of pH, amount of photocatalysts,catalyst dosage, and dye concentration were also examined. The best results were reported for the concentration of 20 mg/L NTiO lt;sub gt;2 lt;/sub gt; nanoparticles. Also results showed that the photodecomposition of NTiO lt;sub gt;2 lt;/sub gt; is complete at pH 11. Total organic carbon (TOC) analysis indicated 30 % mineralization of Blue 5 after 75 min irradiation.