One-Step Synthesis of Nitrogen-Doped TiO(2) Heterojunctions and Their Visible Light Catalytic Applications.

In this study, nitrogen-doped TiO(2) heterojunction materials were successfully synthesized via a facile one-step solvothermal approach. A range of advanced characterization techniques were employed to thoroughly analyze the structural and compositional properties of the synthesized photocatalysts, and their application potential for tetracycline (TC) degradation under visible light was studied. The results indicated that N-doped TiO(2) exhibited a well-defined hierarchical micro/nanostructure and formed an efficient anatase/rutile homogeneous heterojunction. The photocatalytic performance of N-TiO(2) for TC degradation under visible light was significantly enhanced, achieving a degradation efficiency of up to 87% after 60 min of irradiation. This improvement could be attributed to the synergistic effects of optimal nitrogen doping, heterojunction formation, and the hierarchical micro/nanostructure, which collectively reduced the bandgap energy and suppressed the recombination rate of photogenerated carriers. Furthermore, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were conducted to systematically explore the impacts of substitutional and interstitial nitrogen doping on the energy band structure of TiO(2).