One-step hydrothermal generation of oxygen-deficient N-doped blue TiO2–Ti3C2 for degradation of pollutants and antibacterial properties

In this study, TiO2 was generated in situ on the surface of Ti3C2 by a hydrothermal process, and urea was added to form N-doped TiO2-Ti3C2. The surface morphology and functional group properties of the prepared materials were analyzed by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, etc. The results showed that anatase TiO2 formed on the surface of the Ti3C2 monolayer. Nitrogen-doped nanomaterials show good phenol degradation and good recyclability under visible light. At a urea content of 0.5 g, the photocatalytic degradation of phenol under visible light is best, reaching 88.9% in 3 h, with ·OH and ·O2- holes playing the leading role. However, at lower pH and higher ion concentration, the degradability of N-TiO2-Ti3C2 for phenol is reduced. Furthermore, the material prepared in this work is a two-dimensional layered material, and the adsorption of phenol best fits the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation. In terms of the antibacterial performance of the material, the N-doped TiO2-Ti3C2 nanomaterial made with 0.2 g of urea has an Escherichia coli scavenging efficiency of about 97.86%, which is an excellent antibacterial material. This study shows that the N-TiO2-Ti3C2 produced in this experiment can be used for environmental applications.