Tuning the Synthetic Parameters to Obtain Smart C-N Co-Doped Titania Photocatalysts for NOx Abatement

Global society is constantly seeking for sustainable andeffective processes to fight environmental pollution. The abate-ment of NOx, a class of hazardous contaminants, can beperformed by means of photocatalytic oxidation using titania-based photocatalysts. Non-metal doping is highly desirable foran efficient exploitation of solar light. The co-presence ofnitrogen and carbon represents an appealing possibility thoughtheir introduction generally requires post-synthesis treatments. Otherwise, in this work carbon and nitrogen have beenintroduced in titania photocatalys ts simultaneously by a one-pot synthetic approach using a natural and sustainable sourceof dopants, namely chitosan. Several synthetic parameters havebeen changed in order to evaluate their effect on thephysicochem ical properties of the final materials and toestablish structure-activity relationship as for the photocatalyticperformances in NOxoxidation under visible light irradiation.