Electro-Optic Modulation Induced Enhancement in Photocatalytic Activity of N-Doped TiO2 Thin Films

In the presence of ultraviolet light, TiO2 photocatalyst finds a lot of applications in degradation of organic and inorganic particles present in environment as well as in water. TiO2 nanoparticles can not be utilized effectively in presence of solar light since solar radiation has very little contribution in UV region. The photo response of TiO2 can be shifted to the visible region by nitrogen doping. In the nitrogen-doped TiO2 lattice, the oxygen vacancies are formed below the conduction band in the form of donor energy level. These vacancies increase with increasing nitrogen concentration in TiO2, which results in an increase in the trapping rate. This leads to enhancement of photocatalytic activity of nitrogendoped TiO2 film. Nitrogen doping results in the creation of defects in nitrogendoped TiO2, which in other way leads to a modification of the work function of thin films. The observed changes in work function of these films, measured using scanning Kelvin probe microscopy, indicates the shifting of Fermi level with the introduction of defects. The study of work function as well as surface properties of thin films helps in better understanding of the photo activity of nitrogen-doped TiO2 film.