Mixed phase titania nanocomposite codoped with metallic silver and vanadium oxide: New efficient photocatalyst for dye degradation

Titania nanocomposite codoped with metallic silver and vanadium oxide was prepared by a one-step sol-gel-solvothermal method in the presence of a triblock copolymer surfactant (P123). The resulting Ag/V-TiO2 three-component junction system exhibited an anatase/rutile (weight ratio of 73.8:26.2) mixed phase structure, narrower band gap (2.25 eV), and extremely small particle sizes (ca. 12 nm) with metallic Ag particles well distributed on the surface of the composite. The Ag/V-TiO2 nanocomposite was used as the visible- and UV-light-driven photocatalyst to degrade dyes rhodamine B (RB) and coomassie brilliant blue G-250 (CBB) in an aqueous solution. At 1.8% Ag and 4.9% V doping, the Ag/V-TiO2 system exhibited the highest visible- as well as UV-light photocatalytic activity; additionally, the activity of the three-component system exceeded that of Degussa P25, pure TiO2, single-doped TiO2 system (Ag/TiO2 or V-TiO2) as well as P123-free-Ag/V-TiO2 codoped system. The reasons for this enhanced photocatalytic activity were revealed.