Synthesis and Enhanced Solar Light Photocatalytic Activity of a C/N Co-Doped TiO2/Diatomite Composite with Exposed (001) Facets

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiongbo Dong ◽  
Zhiming Sun ◽  
Xiangwei Zhang ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
Shuilin Zheng

A C/N co-doped TiO2/diatomite composite with exposed (001) facet was prepared through a facile sol–gel method using tetrabutyl titanate as a titanium precursor and hexamethylenetetramine as C/N dopant. The as-prepared photocatalyst composites were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), as well as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The TiO2 nanoparticles were immobilised and uniformly distributed on the surface of diatomite with a smaller grain size compared with pure TiO2. In addition, compared with pure TiO2 and the undoped TiO2/diatomite composite, the photocatalytic activity of the C/N co-doped TiO2/diatomite composite under solar light illumination was obviously enhanced. Results indicate that the introduction of a C/N dopant can effectively promote the growth of the highly active anatase (001) facet of TiO2. On the other hand, the N impurity was doped into the interstitial spaces of the TiO2 lattice, which accelerated the charge transfer and hindered the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. The results show that the as-prepared composite exhibited promising applications in dye wastewater degradation owing to its outstanding reusability and cost-effectiveness.

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrzad Feilizadeh ◽  
Amin Delparish ◽  
S. Toufigh Bararpour ◽  
Hamed Abedini Najafabadi ◽  
S. Mohammad Esmaeil Zakeri ◽  
...  

To overcome the drawback of poor solar light utilization brought about by the narrow photoresponse range of TiO2, a silver and sulfur co-doped TiO2 was synthesized. Using the prepared catalyst, solar photocatalytic degradation of 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) by a TiO2-based catalyst was studied for the first time. Effects of the co-doping on the structural, optical and morphological properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were investigated by different characterization methods: X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption–desorption measurements, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Solar experiments showed that the co-doping with silver and sulfur significantly increased the photocatalytic activity. In various initial concentrations of 2-NP more than 99% of the contaminant was decomposed by Ag-S/TiO2 in less than 150 minutes, while the degradation efficiency was much less in the presence of bare TiO2. Kinetic studies suggested that solar photocatalytic degradation of 2-NP is consistent with the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model. The rate constant of the reaction and adsorption constant of the modified photocatalyst were found to be 2.4 and 4.1 times larger than that of bare TiO2, respectively.


Separations ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Chukwuka Bethel Anucha ◽  
Ilknur Altin ◽  
Emin Bacaksız ◽  
Tayfur Kucukomeroglu ◽  
Masho Hilawie Belay ◽  
...  

Abatement of contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) in water sources has been widely studied employing TiO2 based heterogeneous photocatalysis. However, low quantum energy yield among other limitations of titania has led to its modification with other semiconductor materials for improved photocatalytic activity. In this work, a 0.05 wt.% CuWO4 over TiO2 was prepared as a powder composite. Each component part synthesized via the sol-gel method for TiO2, and CuWO4 by co-precipitation assisted hydrothermal method from precursor salts, underwent gentle mechanical agitation. Homogenization of the nanopowder precursors was performed by zirconia ball milling for 2 h. The final material was obtained after annealing at 500 °C for 3.5 h. Structural and morphological characterization of the synthesized material has been achieved employing X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) N2 adsorption–desorption analysis, Scanning electron microscopy-coupled Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS) for optical characterization. The 0.05 wt.% CuWO4-TiO2 catalyst was investigated for its photocatalytic activity over carbamazepine (CBZ), achieving a degradation of almost 100% after 2 h irradiation. A comparison with pure TiO2 prepared under those same conditions was made. The effect of pH, chemical scavengers, H2O2 as well as contaminant ion effects (anions, cations), and humic acid (HA) was investigated, and their related influences on the photocatalyst efficiency towards CBZ degradation highlighted accordingly.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huang Liu ◽  
Yanhua Zhang ◽  
Hongtao Yang ◽  
Wei Xiao ◽  
Lanlan Sun

Using the common natural cellulose substance (filter paper) and triblock copolymer (Pluronic P123) micelles as dual templates, porous titania nanotubes with enhanced photocatalytic activity have been successfully synthesized through sol-gel methods. Firstly, P123 micelles were adsorbed onto the surfaces of cellulose nanofibers of filter paper, followed by hydrolysis and condensation of tetrabutyl titanate around these micelles to form titania layer. After calcination to remove the organic templates, hierarchical titania nanotubes with pores in the walls were obtained. The sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption/desorption, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Ultraviolet-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). As compared with commercial P25 catalyst, the porous titania nanotubes prepared by this method displayed significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity for degrading methyl orange under UV irradiation. Within 10 minutes, the porous titania nanotubes are able to degrade over 70% of the original MO, while the value for the commercial Degussa P25 is only about 33%.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 191019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shang Wang ◽  
Zhaolian Han ◽  
Tingting Di ◽  
Rui Li ◽  
Siyuan Liu ◽  
...  

The pod-shaped TiO 2 nano burst tubes (TiO 2 NBTs) were prepared by the combination of electrospinning and impregnation calcination with oxalic acid (H 2 C 2 O 4 ), polystyrene (PS) and tetrabutyl titanate. The silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were loaded onto the surface of TiO 2 NBTs by ultraviolet light reduction method to prepare pod-shaped Ag@TiO 2 NBTs. In this work, we analysed the effect of the amount of oxalic acid on the cracking degree of TiO 2 NBTs; the effect of the concentration of AgNO 3 solution on the particle size and loading of AgNPs on the surface of TiO 2 NBTs. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy investigated the surface morphology of samples. X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterized the structure and composition of samples. Rhodamine B (RhB) solution was used to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of pod-shaped TiO 2 NBTs and Ag@TiO 2 NBTs. The results showed that TiO 2 NBTs degraded 91.0% of RhB under ultraviolet light, Ag@TiO 2 NBTs degraded 95.5% under visible light for 75 and 60 min, respectively. The degradation process of both samples was consistent with the Langmuir–Hinshelwood first-order kinetic equation. Therefore, the catalytic performance of the sample is: Ag@TiO 2 NBTs > TiO 2 NBTs > TiO 2 nanotubes.


2010 ◽  
Vol 113-116 ◽  
pp. 1945-1950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Luo ◽  
Xin Yuan Yang ◽  
De Liang Li

Using cesium nitrate and strontium nitrate as doping metal ions source, Cs-doped TiO2 and Sr-doped TiO2 photocatalysts were successfully synthesized through the hydrolysis of tetrabutyl titanate by an acid-catalyzed sol-gel method. The photocatalytic activities of these catalysts prepared at 600 °C for 2 h were evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange in aqueous solution under solar light irradiation, and the as-prepared samples with higher photocatalytic efficiency were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The XRD patterns indicate that the crystal structure still remains as anatase phase for the doped samples, and the average crystal size of TiO2, 0.1 at% Cs-doped TiO2 and 0.3 at% Sr-doped TiO2 is 21.3, 13.1 and 10.8 nm, respectively. The band gap absorption shows red shift to the visible region for the doped samples from the UV-Vis spectrogram. The results show that the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles doped with Cs+ and Sr2+ exhibits a significant improvement and their degradation efficiencies are more than 30% in comparison with those of TiO2 under the same condition, and the optimal doping concentration is determined to be 0.1 at% and 0.3 at% for Cs+ and Sr2+, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhao Pei ◽  
Pei Wang ◽  
Zhiguo Li

In this work, we report that ZnTiO3/TiO2 composites, which were synthesized by hydrothermal method possessed photocatalytic and potential spraying properties. The obtained ZnTiO3/TiO2 composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction techniques (XRD). Photocatalytic activities of ZnTiO3/TiO2 composites were evaluated by using Rhodamine B (RhB) as a model pollutant under visible light irradiation. The experimental results showed that the as-prepared ZnTiO3 (2%)/TiO2 composite exhibited better photocatalytic activity than that of pure TiO2.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Fan ◽  
Yan-ning Yang ◽  
Chen Ding

Abstract The g-C3N4 nanosheet was prepared by calcination method, the MoS2 nanosheet was prepared by hydrothermal method. The g-C3N4/MoS2 composites were prepared by ultrasonic composite in anhydrous ethanol. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), and photoluminescence (PL) techniques were used to characterize the materials. The photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (Rh B) by g-C3N4/MoS2 composites with different mass ratios was investigated under visible light. The results show that a small amount of MoS2 combined with g-C3N4 can significantly improve photocatalytic activity. The g-C3N4/MoS2 composite with a mass ratio of 1:8 has the highest photocatalytic activity, and the degradation rate of Rh B increases from 50% to 99.6%. The main reason is that MoS2 and g-C3N4 have a matching band structure. The separation rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs is enhanced. So the g-C3N4/MoS2 composite can improve the photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic mechanism was proposed through the active matter capture experiment.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjie Ma ◽  
Weijie Guo ◽  
Zhengpeng Yang ◽  
Shanxiu Huang ◽  
Guanyu Wang

TiO2/fine char (FC) photocatalyst was prepared via sol-gel method with tetrabutyl titanate as the precursor and FC as the carrier. The structural property of TiO2/FC photocatalyst was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the photocatalytic activity of TiO2/FC was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) aqueous solution under UV light irradiation. The results showed that TiO2was successfully coated on the surface of FC, and the TiO2/FC photocatalyst had better photocatalytic efficiency and stability for degradation of RhB under UV light illumination as compared to that of the pure TiO2and FC. The study provided a novel way for the application of FC to the photocatalytic degradation of organic wastes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behnam Khanizadeh ◽  
Morteza Khosravi ◽  
Mohammad A. Behnajady ◽  
Ali Shamel ◽  
Behrouz Vahid

In this study, La and Mg doped, and co-doped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared using the sol-gel method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and N2 physisorption techniques. The XRD results indicated that the prepared nanoparticles can be well adopted by the hexagonal wurtzite structure crystal and there are no second impurity peaks. Studies of the FESEM, EDX and TEM have shown that the samples have uniform spherical-like morphology with a homogenous distribution. The incorporation of La and Mg into the ZnO lattice had no effect on the morphology of the nanoparticles, but a reduction in the size of the grains (≈ 14 nm to ≈ 7 nm) was observed due to the insertion of these ions. The results of N2 physisorption indicated that there was an increase in BET surface area and pore volume for doped and co-doped samples. The results of DRS showed an increase in band gap energy and a blue shift at the absorption edge for doped and co-doped samples. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared catalysts was evaluated in the removal of RhB under UVA irradiation. The results showed that Mg5%-La5%/ZnO had the highest photoactivity (91.18 %) among all samples.


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