Visible Light Active Ce-doped TiO2 Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue

Title:Visible Light Active Ce-doped TiO2 Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue

Volume: 13 Issue: 1

Author(s): Rani P. Barkul, Farah-Naaz A. Shaikh, Sagar D. Delekar and Meghshyam K. Patil

Affiliation:

Keywords: Degradation, doped photocatalyst, methylene blue, photocatalytic activity, TiO₂.

Abstract: Background: TiO₂ photocatalysts are well-known for variety of applications in a range of important technological areas. The main drawback associated with TiO₂ photocatalysts is the use of these particles in presence of UV light for practical applications and hence these particles utilizes very less part of sunlight. The purpose of this work is to introduce new energy levels between the conduction band and valence band, which results in reduction of the band gap. This permits TiO₂ to be active under visible light irradiation and increases the degradation activity in sunlight.

Methods: This research contain the preparation of Ce-TiO₂ NPs through wet dispersion followed by impregnation method and activity study of these catalysts for degradation of methylene blue under direct sunlight.

Results: Physicochemical characterization of Ce-TiO₂ NPs has been studied by using different techniques such as XRD, IR, UV, SEM, and EDAX. XRD reveals the nanocrystalline nature of all the samples with anatase and rutile phase. The crystallite size of all samples was found in the range of 21-24 nm. UV-Visible absorption measurement revealed that the optical band gap of the doped samples decrease with increase in dopant concentration from 1.0 - 5.0 mol%. The photocatalytic activities of bare/doped TiO₂ samples were demonstrated for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under direct sunlight irradiation. Enhanced activity for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue is shown by doped TiO₂ samples as compare to bared TiO₂. As dopant content increases, the photocatalytic activity of doped TiO₂ NPs also increases due to the lower optical band gap energy than its bare form.

Conclusion: In summary, prepared Ce-TiO₂ found to be nanocrystalline and visible light active. These prepared catalysts has shown better activity for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under sunlight than bared TiO₂.

Cite this article as:

Barkul P. Rani, Shaikh A. Farah-Naaz, Delekar D. Sagar and Patil K. Meghshyam, Visible Light Active Ce-doped TiO2 Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue, Current Nanoscience 2017; 13 (1) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1573413712666160824151102

DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1573413712666160824151102	Print ISSN 1573-4137
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher	Online ISSN 1875-6786