You are here:
Fabrication and visible-light photocatalytic activity of novel Ag/TiO2-xNx nanocatalyst
Citation:
VARMA, R. S. Fabrication and visible-light photocatalytic activity of novel Ag/TiO2-xNx nanocatalyst . NEW JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY. RSC Publishing, Cambridge, Uk, 34(6):1094-1096, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
The efforts of the scientific community are directed towards the preparation of photocatalysts that are active under solar or artificial visible light irradiation. TiO2 is one of the most 15 widely used photocatalyst that is employed in self-cleaning coatings, photocatalytic processes and environmental remediation processes, especially degradation of biorecalcitrant organic contaminants1, 2 due to its good photoactivity, high chemical stability, low cost, and 20 nontoxicity.3 TiO2 exhibits high reactivity and chemical stability under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation at wavelength 387 nm, whose energy exceeds the band gap of 3.0 eV and 3.2 eV for rutile and anatase crystalline phase, respectively.1, 4 Unfortunately, due to the size of its band gap, TiO2 is active 25 only under UV irradiation, which is less than 5 % of solar light energy.5 Thus, the fabrication of TiO2 photocatalyst that yields high stability and reactivity under artificial visible and solar light (wavelength > 380 nm) would allow to utilize solar spectrum and provide photocatalysts that are active during 30 daylight and/or in even ambient illuminated indoor areas.
