Fabrication and photocatalytic characterizations of ordered nanoporous X-doped (X = N, C, S, Ru, Te, and Si) TiO2/Al2O3 films on ITO/glass

Transparent, ordered nanoporous TiO2/Al2O3 composite films doped with metal elements (Ru, Si, and Te) and nonmetal elements (N, C, and S) were fabricated by successive anodization and sol-gel process directly on glass substrates covered with a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) film. The doping of ruthenium, nitrogen, carbon, and sulfur in TiO2 exhibited an enhanced effect on the absorbance, while the doping of silicon and tellurium showed little effect. Particularly, the N- and Ru-doped TiO2/Al2O3 films on ITO/glass developed an enhanced absorption red shift of 580 nm (-N) and 500 nm (-Ru). The nanoporous TiO2/Al2O3 composite film exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity in decomposing acetaldehyde under ultraviolet-light irradiation, with a value of 13 times in initial reaction rate or 7.8 times in quantum yield higher than a commercially available TiO2 material, Degussa P25. The ultraviolet-light photocatalytic activities of nanoporous TiO2/Al2O3 films were enhanced by the doping of nitrogen, carbon, and sulfur but slightly weakened by the doping of ruthenium, silicon, and tellurium. Particularly, the nanoporous N-doped TiO2/Al2O3 films exhibited effective photocatalytic activity on ultraviolet light decomposition of a highly toxic dioxin, HpCDD, and gave the highest decomposition rate of approximately 95% (via 7 h of irradiation) for the specimen with a dopant content of 1.7 wt % nitrogen.