N-doped graphene quantum dots for enhancing multi-level Bi₂Ti₂O₇ spheres photocatalytic activity via electronic trapping

The modification of photocatalyst was the vital task for improving photocatalytic performance. Inspired by multi-level effect and activation regions of N atom, multi-level bismuth-based spheres (Bi₂Ti₂O₇) and N-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQD) were constructed for the photocatalytic application. Experiments demonstrated that the N-GQD/Bi₂Ti₂O₇ multi-level spheres showed higher photocatalytic performance due to the multi-level effect and activation regions. Meanwhile, a series of characterizations proved that the separation efficiency of electron–hole pairs was improved after the N-GQD modifications. A possible mechanism was proposed for investigating N-GQD/Bi₂Ti₂O₇ materials in the photocatalytic field.