Electronic structure, photocatalytic properties and phonon dispersions of X-doped (X = N, B and Pt) rutile TiO \u3c inf\u3e 2 from density functional theory

First principles calculations were performed on the electronic, vibrational and Raman spectra of substitutional N-, B- and Pt-doped rutile titanium dioxide (TiO2), within the density functional theory (DFT), using the plane-wave pseudopotential method. From the calculated electronic band structure and density of states we concluded that the doping induces significant changes in the band structure of TiO2, highlighting B- and Pt-doped TiO 2 as the best candidates for photocatalytic materials for visible light absorption. On the other hand, N-doped TiO2 appears to be active only for the photoreduction processes, although N doping introduces midstates into the band gap. Only N-doped TiO2 proved to have stable phonon dispersions and showed interesting band doubling. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved