Single-step synthesis of visible-light TiO 2-X N X photocatalyst nanopowder by thermal plasma
Journal
Nanotechnology 2009: Fabrication, Particles, Characterization, MEMS, Electronics and Photonics - Technical Proceedings of the 2009 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Expo, NSTI-Nanotech 2009
Journal Volume
1
Pages
59
ISBN
9781439817827
Date Issued
2009-11-26
Author(s)
Tsai, Cheng Yen
Abstract
TiO 2 photocatalyst has been shown to effectively decompose various pollutants in gaseous or aqueous phases. The major defect of TiO 2 , however, appears to be the large band-gap energy of 3.2 eV that makes the TiO 2 only being excited by UV light. Furthermore, the manufacturing process of TiO 2 strongly influences the purity and surface properties of resulting nanopartieles which subsequently affect the characteristics of TiO 2 photocatalytie reactions. Therefore, there is a need to produce visible-light photocatalyst via novel processes. In this study, nitrogen-doped TiO 2 (i.e., TiO 2-X N X ) nanopowders, which have been recognized as effective photocatalysts for band gap narrowing, were synthesized using a transferred IDC plasma torch as the heating source. The TiO 2-X N X nanopowdcrs were formed via a single-step thermal process. The formed TiO 2-X N X samples were characterized with TEM, XRD and UV-Vis. The experimental results indicated that the formed TiO 2-X N X nanopowdcrs had a particle size within 5-20 nm. Furthermore, the formed nanopowdcrs were a mixture of the anatase and rutile phase. An evident red-shift in wavelength absorption was also observed. These results revealed that the proposed thermal plasma method successfully fabricated N-dopcd TiO 2 in a single-step process.
Subjects
Evaporation condensation | Nitrogen doped | Plasma torch | Titanium dioxide
Type
conference paper