VISIBLE LIGHT RESPONSE-TYPE TITANIUM OXIDE PHOTOCATALYST, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE VISIBLE LIGHT RESPONSE-TYPE TITANIUM OXIDE PHOTOCATALYST, AND USE OF THE VISIBLE LIGHT RESPONSE-TYPE TITANIUM OXIDE PHOTOCATALYST

This invention provides a visible light response-type titanium oxide photocatalyst that can develop high photocatalytic activity upon exposure to visible light. The visible light response-type titanium oxide photocatalyst is manufactured by heat treating titanium oxide and/or titanium hydroxide, produced by neutralizing an acidic titanium compound with a nitrogen-containing base, in an atmosphere containing a hydrolyzable metal compound (for example, titanium halide), and further conducting heat treatment in a gas having a water content of 0.5 to 4.0 vol% at a temperature of 350°C or above. In a mass fragment spectrum at an m/e value of 28 by a thermal desorption analysis, wherein m represents mass number and e represents ion charge number, the photocatalyst of the nitrogen-containing titanium oxide does not substantially have any peak at 600°C or above, and the peak having the smallest half-value width is in the range of 400 to 600°C. Further, for the photocatalyst, the nitrogen content calculated from a peak, which appears at 400 eV ±1.0 eV in an N1s shell bond energy spectrum by an XPS measurement, is at least 20 times larger than the nitrogen content determined by a chemical analysis.