Carbon-doped mesoporous TiO2 film and its photocatalytic activity

Abstract A visible-light-active C-doped mesoporous TiO 2 film was prepared by sol–gel process combined with hydrothermal treatment. Glucose was used as carbon source and structure-directing agent. The structure and physicochemical properties of the film were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL). The results indicated that oxygen sites in the TiO 2 lattice were substituted by carbon atoms and an O–Ti–C bond was formed. The C-doped mesoporous TiO 2 film had a high surface area of 283 m 2  g −1 . The film was about 10 μm thick and was composed of anatase TiO 2 particles. The prepared C-doped TiO 2 film exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity in the degradation of dye Reactive Brilliant Red X-3B (C.I. reactive red 2) under UV and visible light irradiation compared with that of the smooth TiO 2 film and P25 film. The recycle ability of the C-doped mesoporous TiO 2 film was also investigated. The degradation ratio which was still higher than 87% after 5 cycles, decreased by 3% compared to the first cycle.