Effect of Dopant Concentration of N, Fe Co-Doped TiO2 on Photodegradation of Methylene Blue under Ordinary Visible Light
The effect of dopant concentration on N, Fe co-doped TiO2 for photodegradation of methylene blue under ordinary visible light was investigated. The photocatalyst samples were prepared using solgel method with titanium tetraisopropoxide as precursor of titania. The dopant concentrations were varied from 0.50% and 1.0% and the calcinations temperature was fixed at 600oC. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized using XRD and FTIR to determine their physical properties. The results from XRD proved that photocatalyst with dopant concentration of 1.0% N, 1.0% Fe-TiO2 showing highly desirable properties in phase and crystal size. The results from FTIR revealed the presence of both the dopants in the samples. The effectivity of photocatalysts was tested by performing a standard batch photocatalytic degradation experiment with methylene blue as a model pollutant under ordinary visible light. The result showed that photocatalyst with high dopant concentration for both nitrogen and ferrum dopant (1.0 % N, 1.0% Fe-TiO2) yielded a maximum of 80.50% methylene blue degraded within five hours of irradiation time.