Synthesis of Si, N co-Doped Nano-Sized TiO2 with High Thermal Stability and Photocatalytic Activity by Mechanochemical Method
Peisan Wang,
Chunxia Qi,
Pengchao Wen,
Luyuan Hao,
Xin Xu,
Simeon Agathopoulos
Affiliations
Peisan Wang
Chinese Academy of Science, Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230032, China
Chunxia Qi
Department of Chemical Engineering, Hefei Normal University, Hefei Lianhua Rd 1688, Hefei 230601, China
Pengchao Wen
Chinese Academy of Science, Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230032, China
Luyuan Hao
Chinese Academy of Science, Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230032, China
Xin Xu
Chinese Academy of Science, Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230032, China
Simeon Agathopoulos
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR-451 10 Ioannina, Greece
Τhe photocatalytic activity in the range of visible light wavelengths and the thermal stability of the structure were significantly enhanced in Si, N co-doped nano-sized TiO2, and synthesized through high-energy mechanical milling of TiO2 and SiO2 powders, which was followed by calcination at 600 °C in an ammonia atmosphere. High-energy mechanical milling had a pronounced effect on the mixing and the reaction between the starting powders and greatly favored the transformation of the resultant powder mixture into an amorphous phase that contained a large number of evenly-dispersed nanocrystalline TiO2 particles as anatase seeds. The experimental results suggest that the elements were homogeneously dispersed at an atomic level in this amorphous phase. After calcination, most of the amorphous phase was crystallized, which resulted in a unique nano-sized crystalline-core/disordered-shell morphology. This novel experimental process is simple, template-free, and provides features of high reproducibility in large-scale industrial production.
