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Preparation and photovoltaic properties of N-doped TiO2 nanocrystals in vacuum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2013

Hao-Hong Chen ,
Fang Lei ,
Jing-Tai Zhao ,
Ying Shi  and
Jian-Jun Xie
Hao-Hong Chen*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Transparent Opto-Functional Inorganic Materials of Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Shanghai 200050, China
Fang Lei
Affiliation:
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China
Jing-Tai Zhao
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Transparent Opto-Functional Inorganic Materials of Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Shanghai 200050, China
Ying Shi
Affiliation:
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China
Jian-Jun Xie
Affiliation:
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: chen-h-h@mail.sic.ac.cn
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Abstract

This work presents the preparation and characterization of N-doped TiO2 nanocrystals obtained by a solid-state reaction in vacuum with urea as the nitrogen source. The particle sizes of the products are smaller than 20 nm from the x-ray powder diffraction patterns and the transmission electron microscopy images. Different from the reported samples obtained in air or under dry N2 or NH3 gas flow, the doped nitrogen exists mainly as absorbed NOx groups but as smaller incorporated species in the nanocrystals, which is supported by the results from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Dependent on the nitrogen amount, the surface photovoltage (SPV) response reaches the maximum at the mediate molar ratio of 5:4 (urea to TiO2), which can be explained that proper nitrogen concentration can enhance the separation of the photogenerated carriers to improve the SPV intensity, but excess nitrogen can spread the impurity energy levels to narrow energy gaps, which reinforces the combination of the photogenerated electrons and holes and then decreases the SPV signal. The corresponding detailed discussion is also reported.

Keywords

N-doped TiO2surface photovoltaicureavacuum
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 3: Focus Issue: Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials , 14 February 2013 , pp. 468 - 474
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013

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