Creation of passivated Nb/N p-n co-doped ZnO nanoparticles and their enhanced photocatalytic performance under visible light illumination

Shuang Gao¹，Weiyi Yang²，Jun Xiao²，Bo Li¹，Qi Li²

1. Division of Energy and Environment,Graduate School at Shenzhen,Tsinghua University2. Environment Functional Materials Division,Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science,Institute of Metal Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences

摘 要：Passivated niobium/nitrogen（Nb-N） p-n co-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles were created by a simple precipitation process with in-situ self-formed NaCl "cage" to confine the nanoparticle growth followed by the heat treatment in a flow of ammonia gas. Enhanced optical absorbance into the visible light region was observed in the Nb/N co-doped ZnO nanoparticle photocatalyst due to the Nb/N co-doping effect.It demonstrated a largely enhanced photocatalytic performance in the disinfection of Escherichia coli bacteria under visible light illumination, which could be attributed to the passivated co-doping of NbN to suppress the photogenerated charge carrier recombination on dopants. This robust approach for passivated p-n co-doping may also be applied to other material systems for a wide range of technical applications.

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