Abstract
The photocatalytic activity of TiO(2) based photocatalysts can be improved by structural modification and elemental doping. In this study, through rational design, one type of carbon and nitrogen co-doped TiO(2) (C, N-TiO(2)) photocatalyst with mesoporous structure was synthesized with improved photocatalytic activity in degrading 4-nitrophenol under simulated sunlight irradiation. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the C, N-TiO(2) was much higher than the anatase TiO(2) (A-TiO(2)) based on absorbance and HPLC analyses. Moreover, using zebrafish embryos, we showed that the intermediate degradation compounds generated by photocatalytic degradation of 4-nitrophenol had higher toxicity than the parent compound. A repeated degradation process was necessary to render complete degradation and non-toxicity to the zebrafish embryos. Our results demonstrated the importance of evaluating the photocatalytic degradation efficiency in conjunction with the toxicity assessment of the degradation compounds.