A Rapid Method for the Synthesis of Nitrogen Doped TiO₂ Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

A facile, fast, and economic method of doping TiO₂, synthesized by conventional precipitation route with N has been developed. By this method, stable N doped TiO₂ can be prepared within a short duration of time. The method adopted was to treat the TiO₂ powder synthesized by simple precipitation with trioctyl amine (TOA) at 320 °C for 2 hours followed by calcination at 400 °C for 2 hours to obtain the N-doped TiO₂. The sample along with NiO as co-catalyst showed significant photocatalytic activity for hydrogen generation from aqueous methanol solution under sunlight type irradiation. This synthesis method opens up a fast and easy route for doping the existing TiO₂ or other wide band gap oxide semiconductors with nitrogen so that they can exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity under solar irradiation.