Synthesis of iron(III)-doped nanostructure TiO2/SiO2 and their photo-catalytic activity

Iron(III)-doped nanostructure TiO2-coated SiO2 (TiO2/SiO2) particles were prepared using the layer-by-layer assembly technique and their photocatalytic property was studied. TiO2 colloids were synthesized employing the sol-gel method with TiCl4 a precursor. The samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FITR), SEM, EDS, XPS, and XRD. The experimental results show that TiO2 nanopowders on the surface of SiO2 particles are well distributed, the amount of TiO2 is increased with the adding of coating layers, the pure anatase-TiO2 coating layers are synthesized at 500°C, and the photocatalytic activity of Fe3+-doped TiO2/SiO2 is higher than that of undoped TiO2/SiO2.