Structure and photocatalysis activity of silver doped titanium oxide nanotubes array for degradation of pollutants

• TiO2 nanotubes array were grown on Ti foil via anodic oxidation technique.
• These nanotubes were doped with silver ions.
• The silver enhanced the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanotubes by 10 times.

Semiconductor titanium oxide showed a wonderful performance as a photocatalysis for environmental remediation. Owing to high stability and promising physicochemical properties, titanium oxide nanostructures are used in various applications such as wastewater treatment, antimicrobial and air purification. In the present study, titanium oxide nanotubes and silver doped titanium oxide nanotubes were synthesized via anodic oxidation method. The morphology and composition structure were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results depicted that nanotubes possess anatase phase with average tube diameter of 65 nm and 230 ± 12 nm in length. The band gap of the un-doped and silver doped titanium dioxide nanotubes was determined using UV–Vis. spectrophotometer. The results showed that the band gap of titanium dioxide nanotubes is decreased when doped with silver ions. The photocatalysis activity of un-doped and silver doped TiO2 nanotubes were evaluated in terms of degradation of phenol in the presence of ultra violet irradiation. It was found that silver doped TiO2 nanotubes exhibited much higher photocatalysis activity than un-doped TiO2 nanotubes.