Low-temperature solvothermal synthesis of visible-light-responsive S-doped TiO 2 nanocrystal

Journal article

In this work, a low-temperature solvothermal method has been developed to synthesize visible-light-responsive S-doped TiO 2 nanocrystal photocatalyst, using thiourea as the sulfur source to enhance sulfur incorporation into TiO 2 lattice. The effects of different S:Ti molar ratio on the crystal structure, chemical composition, surface property and catalytic performance have been studied. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra displayed that the TiO 2 was modified by the S element incorporated into the TiO 2 network to form TiOS bond, which therefore led to the formation of intermediate energy level just above the O 2p valance band, and caused the absorption edge of TiO 2 to shift into the visible light region up to 500 nm. Characterization results show that the pure nanocrystal anatase structure, with both the degree of S doping and oxygen vacancies makes contribution to the exceptional photocatalytic activity of TONS in visible-light degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) and phenol molecules. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Authors: Yang, G; Yan, Z; Xiao, T

• Journal: Applied Surface Science
• Volume: 258
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 4016-4022
• Publication date: 2012-02-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.12.092
• ISSN: 0169-4332
• Language: English
• Keywords: Photocatalysis; Sulfur; Solvothermal; TiO 2; Visible light; Doping