Photocatalytic degradation of dyes over cobalt doped mesoporous SBA-15 under sunlight

Cobalt doped mesoporous silica (Co-SBA-15) was synthesized using templating method and used for the photodegradation of methyl violet and methylthionine chloride under solar light. Co-SBA-15 was characterized by a combination of various physicochemical techniques, such as, N2 physisorption, diffuse reflectance UV–vis, X-ray diffraction and FT-IR. It was found that Co-SBA-15 in the absence of titania exhibited an obviously photocatalytic efficiency of degradation dyes under solar light irradiation, and its photodegradation rate is comparable with that of Degussa P25. By contrast, undoped SBA-15 exhibited high adsorption capacities but photocatalytically inactive under solar light.