Co/TiO_2 nanoparticles: preparation, characterization and its application for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

摘要

In this work, TiO2 nanoparticles containing different amounts of cobalt were synthesized by sol-gel method using titanium (IV) isopropoxide and cobalt chloride as titanium and cobalt precursors, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed prepared samples include 100% anatase phase. The presence of cobalt in TiO2 nanoparticle network was established by XRD, scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM-EDX), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and N-2 physisorption techniques. The increase of cobalt doping enhanced redshift in the diffuse reflectance spectra. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples was tested for degradation of methylene blue (MB) as a model of dye. Although the photocatalytic activity of pure TiO2 was found to be higher than that of Co/TiO2 samples under UV irradiation, the presence of 0.24% cobalt dopant in TiO2 nanoparticles resulted in a photocatalyst with the highest activity under visible light.