Photocatalytic activity of multielement doped TiO2 in the degradation of congo red

TiO2 although considered a promising photocatalyst for the degradation of aqueous pollutants, it suffers from poor absorption in the visible region and hence requires ultraviolet (UV) light for activation. To make TiO2 a visible active photocatalyst, multielement (C, N, B, and F) doping has been done. The synthesised CNBF/TiO2 catalysts were calcined at different temperatures and characterized by XRD, BET surface area, UV DRS, XPS, HRSEM-EDAX, and TEM techniques. These catalysts found to show less band gap values when compared to bare TiO2. These catalysts were tested for their catalytic activity towards the degradation of a textile dye - congo red (CR) under different reaction conditions. It was found that the photocatalytic activity was dependent on both doping of multielement and the calcination temperature of CNBF/TiO2. The co-doped catalysts which were calcined at 400 °C and 600 °C (100% intensity in anatase phase) were found to be the best catalysts (100% decolourisation of CR in 21/2 h and 2 h respectively). TOC analysis carried out for the samples at the reaction time of 5 h showed very high percentage (83%) degradation of CR over CNBF/TiO2 catalysts calcined at 600 °C when compared to the other catalysts calcined at different temperatures. CNBF/TiO2 (1000 °C) showed very less photocatalytic activity due to the formation of rutile phase.

Highlights► Nanosized titania catalyst was prepared successfully by sol-gel method. ► Doping of multielement over TiO2 decreased the band gap. ► Increase in calcinations temperature resulted in of rutile phase formation. ► Maximum decolourisation of CR was obtained over CNBF/TiO2 (600 °C). ► Catalysts which are in rutile phase showed less photocatalytic activity.