Preparation and characterization of porous C-modified anatase titania films with visible light catalytic activity

Visible-light-activated C-modified anatase titania films have been synthesized from TiCl4 and carbonic ink by using the sol–gel route. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical measurements. The modifying carbon not only produces homogeneous worm-like structure with uniform pores, but also extends the absorbance spectra of the as-prepared films into visible region. The results of visible-light-induced degradation of methyl orange (MO) show that the C-modified titania films exhibits much higher photocatalytic activities than that of pure titania film prepared at the same conditions.