Electronic structure,photocatalytic properties and phonon dispersions of X-doped (X = N,B and Pt) rutile TiO2 from density functional theory

First principles calculations were performed on the electronic, vibrational and Raman spectra of substitutional N-, B- and Pt-doped rutile titanium dioxide (TiO₂), within the density functional theory (DFT), using the plane-wave pseudopotential method. From the calculated electronic band structure and density of states we concluded that the doping induces significant changes in the band structure of TiO₂, highlighting B- and Pt-doped TiO₂ as the best candidates for photocatalytic materials for visible light absorption. On the other hand, N-doped TiO₂ appears to be active only for the photoreduction processes, although N doping introduces midstates into the band gap. Only N-doped TiO₂ proved to have stable phonon dispersions and showed interesting band doubling.