Higher visible photocatalytic activities of nitrogen doped In2TiO5 sensitized by carbon nitride

N-doped In2TiO5 modified by carbon nitride (CN) composite (NICN) has been prepared by the pyrogenation of the mixture of urea and In2TiO5 through a polymerizable complex (PC) method. The powder samples were characterized by XRD, FESEM, TEM, UV-vis, and XPS. It is shown by XRD that the precursor sintered at 1000 degrees C is pure and nitrogen dopant does not change the crystal structure of In2TiO5. FESEM and TEM reveal a hole-like morphology of the prepared NICN. With the increase of nitrogen content, the light absorption onset of In2TiO5 shifts from 410 nm to 450 nm, revealing significant narrowing of the band gap. XPS results suggest that only 2.2% of the nitrogen atoms were doped into In2TiO5 through the urea pyrogenation method. Furthermore, the decomposition of Rhodamine B (Rh-B) under visible light reveals that Rh-B can be degraded completely within 20 min and recycling experiments indicate NICN has stable structure and durable photocatalytic activity, suggesting a promising utilization of such photocatalyst under visible light. Finally, an innovative mechanism of N-doped In2TiO5 sensitized by carbon nitride polymer is proposed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.