Optical and photocatalytic properties of lysozyme mediated titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles using lysozyme (L:TiO2) were prepared through a facile synthesis. Structural, morphological and optical properties of L: TiO2 were compared with synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles prepared without lysozyme. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns showed dominance of anatase phase in L:TiO2 whereas rutile phase in TiO2. Their grain size was reduced from 38 to 17 nm on using lysozyme. Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) study revealed the existence of chemical bonding of Titanium and Oxygen in both phases. The band gap energy was decreased from 3.3 to 3.1 eV on employing lysozyme. L:TiO2 nanoparticles showed better performance than TiO2 in photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) and Methyl Orange (MO) under ultraviolet irradiation.