Visible-light Photocatalyst - Nitrogen-doped Titanium Dioxide -

A new photocatalyst, known as nitrogen-doped TiO2 (TiO2-xNx), yielding high reactivity under visible light irradiation, together with high potential for mass-productivity, has been developed by using a highly time-efficient development technique that combines computational materials design with experimental syntheses. Under visible light irradiation, TiO2-xNx films and powders exhibit significant advantages over commercially-available TiO2 in terms of optical absorption and photocatalytic decomposition rates with respect to gaseous acetaldehyde and toluene, etc. The active wavelength range of TiO2-xNx (below 520 nm) covers a wider irradiation energy range for white fluorescent and incandescent light than that of TiO2. As a result, TiO2-xNx exhibits a photodecomposition rate for gaseous acetaldehyde that is more than 5 times higher than that of TiO2 under interior illumination (300-600 lux). It also exhibits significant antibacterial properties. TiO2-xNx is therefore a promising photocatalytic material, and it possesses other desirable features; it shows highly reproducible photocatalytic activity, it has a potential for massproduction, and it is environmentally benign (no toxic ingredients). Further development of this material is now underway, so it should be available to contribute to the human environment by reducing indoor VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) in the very near future.