Laser-synthesized TiN nanoparticles as novel efficient sorbent for environmental water cleaning

Dyes used in industries such as textile, paper, and leather are known to be harmful to both human health and aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, finding effective and sustainable methods to remove dyes from wastewater is crucial for mitigating the detrimental effects of pollution.TiN nanoparticles have good absorption and conversion of light energy into thermal energy in the visible range of the spectrum, which makes them promising in various applications, from biomedical to environmental protection. In this work, it is shown that titanium nitride nanoparticles also possess promising adsorption capabilitieseffect. TiN nanoparticles were synthesized by laser ablation method in liquid. Water, acetone and acetonitrile are used as solvent. Nanoparticles were characterized by scanning and transmission microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, which showed the formation of the under-stoichiometric titanium nitride (TiN1-x). TiN nanoparticles are investigated as a promising object for high adsorption It is shown that adsorption of TiN nanoparticles is associated with the electrostatic effect and the presence of pores in the synthesized nanoparticles. Optimal dye absorption capabilities were found to be associated with a low amount of Ti vacancies and high amount of N vacancies acting as donor states. The particles synthesized in water have the highest sorption capacity of dye achieving the value of 136.5 mg/g.