Abstract: An efficient method for the preparation of visible light response N-F-codoped TiO2 nanorod arrays (TNRAs) is reported. In the process, simultaneous nitrogen and fluorine doped TNRAs on the glass substrates were achieved by liquid phase deposition (LPD) method using ZnO nanorod arrays as templates. The as-prepared samples were characterized by SEM, TEM, Raman, XPS and UV-vis. The visible light photocatalytic activity of all samples was evaluated by photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution. It was found that N-F codoping exhibits significant improvement of visible light absorption and the N-F-codoped TNRAs samples calcined at 450 ℃ for 2 h demonstrate the best visible light activity in all samples. The excellent photocatalytic activity can be ascribed to the synergetic effect of the unique 1D nanorod arrays structure and some beneficial effects induced by the appropriate amount of N and F doping in TNRAs.

Key words: LPD method, N-F-codoped, TiO2 nanorod arrays, photocatalysis, synergetic effect