ELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIOUR AND PHOTOCATALYTIC PERFORMANCE OF NITROGEN-DOPED TiO2 NANOTUBES ARRAYS POWDERS PREPARED BY COMBINING ANODISATION WITH SOLVOTHERMAL PROCESS

Nitrogen-doped TiO2 nanotube array (TNA) powders were prepared by a two-step process, which combined anodisation with solvothermal treatment. The physicochemical features of the nitrogen-doped TNA powders were characterised by XRD, SEM, XPS, and diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy. Electrochemical behaviour and photocatalytic performance were also measured. Results indicated that the solvothermal treatment transformed the TNA powder into anatase with ammonia as the nitrogen-doping source. The electrochemical properties of the TNAs showed that the reversible capacity of the TNAs was good and the TNA powders obtained after solvothermal treatment at 100 C for 3 h had the best photocatalytic activities among all the measured samples due to improved crystallinity.