Document Type : Research Article

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Abstract

Anion doping is one of the efficient ways to tailor the bandgap of photocatalysts for the treatment of polluted water. The present work describes the improved photocatalytic activity of defect pyrochlore, KTaTeO6 (KTTO), upon nitrogen doping, towards the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The parent KTaTeO6 was synthesized by solid-state method. The N-doped KTaTeO6 (N-KTTO) was prepared by nitridation method using NH3. Techniques such as the XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, FE-SEM/EDX/EDS elemental mapping, TEM-HRTEM, UV-Vis DRS, XPS, Raman, and PL were employed to characterize the physicochemical properties of photocatalysts. The N-doping in KTTO has resulted in enlarged surface area, narrowed the bandgap, and reduced the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, leading to enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to parent KTTO. The active species trapping experiments were conducted to elucidate the mechanism of photodegradation. The N-KTTO is chemically stable and can be used at least up to five cycles.

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