N-TiO2-x Nanocatalysts: PLAL Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract EN

N-TiO2-x nanocatalysts are developed by the pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) technique, a simple and surfactant-free preparation method.

The PLAL approach allows synthesizing chemical-morphological fine-tuning water TiO2-based nanomaterials, starting from targets of different nature (powders and commercial high purity targets).

The catalytic activity was investigated using methylene blue (cationic dye) and methyl orange (azo dye).

A different photocatalytic response was found for the various kinds of N-TiO2-x.

In the first 20 min, under UV and visible light, about 50% and 10% of the methyl orange were removed using the N-TiO2-x and TiO2 colloids, respectively.

In addition, we observe that the response towards the methylene blue is comparable in all the synthesized samples under UV irradiation while differing by about 30% under a visible lamp.

The enhanced photocatalytic response of the N-TiO2-x nanocatalysts with respect to the TiO2 one is dependent on the content of the nitrogen dopant, surface area, and nitrogen-oxygen bonding configurations.