Enhanced photocatalytic activity of C-N-S-tridoped TiO2 towards degradation of methyl orange and phenol

In this paper, C-N-S-tridoped TiO2 was successfully prepared through a sol-gel routine using ammonium thiocyanate as dopant after annealing at 823 K and characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, X-ray diffraction, UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy; scanning electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and surface photovoltage spectroscopy. Doping C, N and S into the lattice of TiO2 inhibits the growth of its crystal, changes the morphology and the surface hydroxyl content, widens the band gap and greatly enhances the photoinduced charge separation rate. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated by degradation of methyl orange and phenol aqueous solution. The results show that photocatalytic activity of the bare TiO2 can be boosted by C-N-S tridoping.