Nitrogen‐Incorporated Anatase for Enhanced Visible‐Light Photocatalysis

ABSTRACT

Contamination of water resources due to organic dyes has emerged as one of the biggest threats to the environment, thus posing a challenge to develop visible‐light‐responsive photocatalysts for wastewater remediation. Herein, we have developed a simple TiCl ₄ –urea adduct method to prepare nitrogen‐incorporated anatase N@TiO ₂ ‐based photocatalysts (TN6 and TN24) with nitrogen doping levels controlled via the variation of the Ti:urea molar ratio. In contrast to other nitrogen doping techniques that normally involve ammonia treatment or nitridation steps, the reported process provides a facile one‐pot technique to obtain visible‐light active N@TiO ₂ while maintaining its anatase structure. The analysis of UV–vis DRS data showed lower band gap values for TN6 (2.74 eV) and TN24 (2.69 eV), compared to 3.16 eV for commercial TiO ₂ , proving better visible light absorption properties. Radical scavenger studies showed superoxide radicals ( ^• O ²⁻ ) as the main reactive species for photocatalysis. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of TN24 is attributed to the combined effects of bandgap narrowing, defect‐rich surface chemistry, and nanostructured morphology. These findings demonstrate that the TiCl ₄ –urea adduct route is an effective strategy for developing visible‐light‐active titanium oxynitride photocatalysts and offers useful insights for the design of efficient materials for solar‐driven wastewater treatment.