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UV and Visible Light-Driven Production of Hydroxyl Radicals by Reduced Forms of N, F, and P Codoped Titanium Dioxide
oleh: A. M. Abdullah, Miguel Á. Garcia-Pinilla, Suresh C. Pillai, Kevin O'Shea
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2019-06-01 |
Deskripsi
The photocatalytic activities of reduced titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) materials have been investigated by measuring their ability to produce hydroxyl radicals under UV and visible light irradiation. Degussa P25 TiO<sub>2</sub> was doped with nitrogen (N), fluorine (F), and/or phosphorus (P) and then subjected to surface modification employing a thermo-physicochemical process in the presence of reducing agent sodium borohydride (NaBH<sub>4</sub>). The reduced TiO<sub>2</sub> materials were characterized by a number of X-ray, spectroscopic and imaging methods. Surface doping of TiO<sub>2</sub> was employed to modulate the band gap energies into the visible wavelength region for better overlap with the solar spectrum. Hydroxyl radical generation, central to TiO<sub>2</sub> photocatalytic water purification applications, was quantitated using coumarin as a trap under UV and visible light irradiation of the reduced TiO<sub>2</sub> materials. At 350 nm irradiation, the yield of hydroxyl radicals generated by the reduced forms of TiO<sub>2</sub> was nearly 90% of hydroxyl radicals generated by the Degussa P25 TiO<sub>2</sub>. Hydroxyl radical generation by these reduced forms of TiO<sub>2</sub> was also observed under visible light irradiation (419 and 450 nm). These results demonstrated that simple surface modification of doped TiO<sub>2</sub> can lead to visible light activity, which is important for more economical solar-driven applications of TiO<sub>2</sub> photocatalysis.