Photocatalytic Activity of Sol-Gel Derived Bi2O3-TiO2 Nanocomposite
Bi2O3-TiO2 nanocomposites were obtained by sol-gel method using tween 80 (T-80) or polyvinyl pyrrolidone-polyethylene glycol (PVP-PEG) as templating agent. The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of both the composites reveal the crystal structure of Bi2O3 as primitive tetragonal and TiO2 is in anatase phase. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectra provide the composition of Bi2O3 in Bi2O3-TiO2 (T-80) and Bi2O3-TiO2 (PVP-PEG) as 3.8 and 20.4 mol. %, respectively. The average crystallite sizes of Bi2O3-TiO2 (T-80) and Bi2O3-TiO2 (PVP-PEG), derived from XRD, are 9 and 17 nm, respectively. The scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images show the spherical shape of Bi2O3-TiO2 (T-80) and the composites are polycrystalline. The diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) of the composites display faint absorption of visible light and strong absorption in UV-A region. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of both the composites are similar and the observed near band gap emission (NBE) and deep level emission (DLE) agree with those of TiO2. The impedance spectra show that the charge-transfer resistances of the composites do not differ significantly. The visible light photoimpedance spectra display the photoconductance of Bi2O3-TiO2 (PVP-PEG) but not that of Bi2O3-TiO2 (T-80). Although the visible light-photocatalytic activities of the two nanocomposites to degrade dye do not differ significantly Bi2O3-TiO2 (T-80) under UV-A light degrades dyes faster than Bi2O3-TiO2 (PVP-PEG).