Composite photocatalyst of nitrogen and fluorine codoped titanium oxide nanotube arrays with dispersed palladium oxide nanoparticles for enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance.

A novel composite photocatalyst of nitrogen (N) and fluorine (F) codoped titanium oxide (TiO(2)) nanotube arrays with dispersed palladium oxide (PdO) nanoparticles was developed by dispersing PdO nanoparticles into N and F codoped TiO(2) nanotube array template created by anodization of titanium foil. These N and F codoped TiO(2)/PdO nanotube arrays demonstrated increased visible light absorption, fast superhydrophilicity conversion, and enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. The enhancement on the photocatalytic performance was explained by the optoelectronic coupling between dispersed PdO nanoparticles and N and F codoped TiO(2) nanotube arrays under visible light illumination, which involves trapping of electrons by PdO nanoparticles, and subsequently decreases the electron/hole pair recombination. Various transition metal/metal oxide nanoparticles could be introduced into nanotube arrays by this simple approach, which could create novel properties for nanotube arrays and promise a wide range of technical applications.