The Role of Nb Addition in TiO2 Nanoparticles: Phase Transition and Photocatalytic Properties
Abstract: This paper reports an experimental investigation on the effects of adding Nb on the thermal, structural, and photocatalytic properties of the TiO2 nanoparticles. It is demonstrated that the phase transition could be controlled by Nb addition to TiO2 lattice. Differential thermal analysis, X‐ray diffraction, and Ti K‐edge X‐ray absorption near edge structure measurements reveal that Nb addition contributed to retard the anatase‐to‐rutile phase transition, while micro‐Raman spectroscopy analysis points out that anatase and rutile phases were distributed non‐homogeneously on the samples. Photocatalysis experiments indicate that Nb addition leads to a significantly improve in the degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine B under ultraviolet irradiation being mainly influenced by order‐disorder.
Authors: Luís F. da Silva, Waldir Avansi Jr, Ariadne C. Catto, João E. F. S. Rodrigues, Maria I. B. Bernardi & Valmor R. Mastelaro
Scientific Illustrations: Enio Longo
Physica status solidi A
215, 21, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.201870049
