A simple solution combustion route for the preparation of metal-doped TiO2 nanoparticles and their photocatalytic degradation properties

Abstract

In this paper, we report the successful synthesis of metal ion-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles via a simple solution combustion method employing a mixture of ethanol and ethyleneglycol (v/v = 30/20) as the solvent, tetra-n-butyl titanate [Ti(OC(4)H(9))(4), TBOT] as the titanium source and oxygen gas in the atmosphere as the oxygen source, in the presence of small amounts of metal ions such as Cu(2+), Mn(2+), Ce(3+) and Sn(4+). The as-obtained products were characterized by means of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of various metal ion-doped products were investigated. Experiments showed that the metal ion-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles presented a stronger photocatalytic ability for the degradation of organic dyes, including Pyronine B, Safranine T and Methylene blue (MB), under visible light/254 nm UV light irradiation than commercial P25 within the same time.

Defect generation, d-d transition, and band gap reduction in Cu-doped TiO2 nanoparticles

“…[1,2]. The main drawback of pure TiO 2 is its wide band gap (3 to 3.2 eV); because of which, it absorbs only the UV part of solar radiation that accounts for only 4% of the total solar radiation, leaving most of the visible portion of light [2,3].…”

“…[1,2]. The main drawback of pure TiO 2 is its wide band gap (3 to 3.2 eV); because of which, it absorbs only the UV part of solar radiation that accounts for only 4% of the total solar radiation, leaving most of the visible portion of light [2,3]. This material can be made visible light-active either by introducing structural defects such as Ti 3+ and oxygen vacancies or by incorporation of nonmetals such as N, C, and S, and transition and rare earth ions [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…Cu is also an important dopant because it has high electronic conductivity, and it is cheap and highly available on the Earth's crust [12]. Cu-doped TiO 2 or CuO/TiO 2 composite serves as an efficient photocatalytic material in the decomposition of gas-phase alcohols, acid orange 88, methylene blue, etc. [13][14][15].…”

Silver metalized mixed phase manganese-doped titania: Variation of electric field and band bending within the space charge region with respect to the silver content

“…With increase in the silver content the peak intensity increases, implying the higher rate of recombination of charge carriers. Alternatively the peak at 430 nm may also arise from radiative annihilation of excitons and it is a band to band recombination, while the peak at 530 nm is attributed to electron transition mediated by defect levels such as oxygen vacancies or surface states in the band gap [29,30]. The intensity of the peak in the PL spectra gives a measure of the rate of recombination of electrons and holes in the semiconductor.…”

Hydrothermal synthesis of anatase flower‐like nanostructures for photocatalytic degradation of dye

“…Nanostructured titanium dioxides have attracted great interests due to their better performance than traditional structured materials. Of many wide band gap inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals, TiO 2 is a promising material for photoelectric conversion and photocatalytic treatment of pollutants from water and air due to its reasonable photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation (<380 nm) and the advantages of being photostable, reusable, nontoxic and comparatively inexpensive [7,8]. There are great deal of studies suggesting that the efficiency of photocatalytic reactions is strongly affected by the crystalline structure, surface area, porosity and surface active sites of TiO 2 [9][10][11][12].…”