tio2Fe

Abstract

C-, S-, N-, and Fe-doped TiO₂ photocatalysts were synthesized by a facile sol–gel method. The structure and properties of catalysts were characterized by N₂ desorption–adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results revealed that the surface area of the multi-doped TiO₂ was significantly increased and the crystallite size was smaller than the pure TiO₂ obtained by a similar route. Compared with TiO₂, the peak position in doped-TiO₂ XRD patterns was slightly shifted, which could be attributed to the distortion by the substitution of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur dopants for some oxygen atoms and Fe³⁺ for Ti⁴⁺ in the lattice of TiO₂. These substitutions were confirmed by XPS. In addition, these dopants were responsible for narrowing the band gap of TiO₂ and shifting its optical response from ultraviolet (UV) to the visible-light region. The photocatalytic reactivities of these multi-doped TiO₂ catalysts were investigated by degrading Rhodamine B (RB) in aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). It was found out that the reactivity was significantly enhanced and the catalyst doped with nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, and 0.3 wt% iron had the highest photocatalytic activity.

Article Outline

1. Introduction

2. Experimental

2.1. Catalyst synthesis

2.2. Catalyst characterization

2.3. Photocatalytic activity measurements

3. Results and discussion

3.1. N₂ adsorption–desorption

3.2. UV–vis spectroscopy

3.3. X-ray diffraction

3.4. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

3.5. Degradation of RB

4. Conclusions

Acknowledgements

References