Advancement in the photocatalytic properties of TiO2 by vanadium and yttrium codoping: Effect of impurity concentration on the photocatalytic activity

• Pure and V, Y codoped TiO2 nano-catalysts were synthesized by hydrothermal method.
• The optical and catalytic properties of different V, Y codoped TiO2 were evaluated.
• All codoped samples shifted the absorption edge of TiO2 toward visible regime.
• 0.2% V, Y codoped TiO2 demonstrated the best photocatalytic behavior.

In this work, we report the synthesis and characterization of vanadium (V)–yttrium (Y) codoped TiO2 photocatalyst for photocatalytic degradation of aqueous pollutants. Nano-sized crystalline (V, Y) codoped TiO2 samples with different V concentrations were synthesized by hydrothermal method without post calcination. A redshift of optical absorption is found in all codoped samples describing the modification of the band structure. A nonlinear increase in the optical absorption edge of V, Y codoped TiO2 was observed with increasing V doping concentration. Spectroscopic investigations show that the doping occurs in the form of substitution for lattice sites. V, Y codoped TiO2 exhibits great enhancement in the photocatalytic response compared to pure TiO2 and it is attributed to the visible light absorption and effective utilization of the photogenerated carriers. The sample with 0.2% V, Y codoped TiO2 demonstrated the best photocatalytic behavior compared to the other synthesized samples.

Nano-sized crystalline (V, Y) codoped TiO2 samples with different V concentrations were synthesized by hydrothermal method without post calcination. A redshift of optical absorption is found in all codoped samples describing the modification of the band structure. Spectroscopic investigations show that the doping occurs in the form of substitution for lattice sites. The sample with 0.2% V, Y codoped TiO2 demonstrated the best photocatalytic behavior compared to the other synthesized samples.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide