Visible light assisted photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange using Ag/N–TiO2 photocatalysts

For the sake of efficient utilization of sunlight, Ag nanoparticles loaded N-doped TiO2 photocatalysts (Ag/N–TiO2) were successfully fabricated via a two-step method to make the best use of the respective advantages of noble metal loading and nonmetal doping. Ag/N–TiO2 was characterized using XRD, XPS and UV–Vis DRS. Compared to TiO2, the dramatic enhancement of the visible-light-induced photocatalytic degradation efficiency of Ag/N–TiO2 obtained for the degradation of methyl orange should be attributed to the synergistic effect of N-doping and Ag-loading, including the good visible light absorption and the effective electron–hole separations. This demonstrates Ag/N–TiO2 is a promising photocatalytic material for organic pollutant degradation under visible light irradiation.