Nitrogen and copper doped solar light active TiO₂ photocatalysts for water decontamination

A novel class of photocatalytic coating capable of degrading bacterial and chemical contaminants in the presence of visible sunlight wavelengths was produced by depositing a stable photocatalytic TiO₂ film on the internal lumen of glass bottles via a sol-gel method. This coating was prepared in either undoped form or doped with nitrogen and/or copper to produce visible light-active TiO₂ films which were annealed at 600°C and were characterized by Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The presence of doped and undoped TiO₂ films was found to accelerate the degradation of methylene blue in the presence of natural sunlight, while copper-doped TiO₂ films were found to accelerate bacterial inactivation (of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis) in the presence of natural sunlight.