Surface characterization and photocatalytic property of nitrogen doped metal oxide

Abstract

We have prepared nitrogen doped TiO₂ films by annealing TiO₂ films in NH₃ atmosphere, and have evaluated XPS, XRD, SEM, and zeta potential for these films. XPS results revealed that nitrogen was doped into substitutional sites of anatase type TiO₂ lattice. As for the zeta potential, nitrogen doping induced the surface zeta potential to more negative. Isoelectric point of N-doped TiO₂ (in terms of pH) was about 1.0, whereas that of TiO₂ was 6.0. Further, in the present study, we also evaluated photocatalytic activities of these films.