Photocatalytic activity of TiO2 doped with boron and vanadium

Boron (B)- and vanadium (V)-doped TiO2 photocatalysts were synthesized using modified sol-gel reaction processes and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and N2 physisorption (BET). The photocatalytic activities were evaluated by monitoring the degradation of methylene blue (MB). The results showed that the materials possess high surface area. The addition of B favored the transformation of anatase to rutile, while in the presence of V, anatase was the only phase detected. The MB degradation on V-doped TiO2 was significantly affected by the preparation method. In fact while the presence of V in the bulk did not influence strongly the photoreactivity under visible irradiation, an increase of surface V doping lead to improved photodegradation of MB. The degradation of MB dye indicated that the photocatalytic activities of TiO2 increased as the boron doping increased, with high conversion efficiency for 9 mol% B doping.