Synthesis of nitrogen & palladium co-doped mesoporous titanium dioxide nanoparticles via evaporation induced self assembly method and study of their photocatalytic properties

In the present research, nitrogen and palladium co-doped mesoporous titanium dioxide nanoparticles have been synthesized via evaporation induced self-assembly method using titanium tetraisopropoxide, as the precursor of titanium and Pluronic P123 as a surface directing agent. The physicochemical properties of all the samples are determined by various techniques. Study of the X-ray diffraction pattern verified the existence of the tetragonal anatase phase of mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles with crystallite size in the range of 7.38-11.08 nm. Analysis of ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy show that the band gap energy and electron-hole recombination rate reduces rapidly with an increase in the concentration of nitrogen & palladium. Scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope images show that the assemblies of nanoparticles result in the genesis of nanometer size range mesoporous structure, including a sphere like aggregate and retained ordered structure. The porosity, pore size distribution and surface area of the samples have been studied by using the Brunauer-EmmetteT-ller analysis. Study of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy supports the existence of O-Ti-O bonding and the impact of co-doping on stretching vibration of O-Ti-O bonding. Three different dyes named methylene blue, congo red, and malachite green are used to study the photocatalytic activities of samples in the presence of visible light. (c) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.