Synthesis of Cu2+ doped mesoporous titania and investigation of its photocatalytic ability under visible light

A simple method to prepare Cu2+ doped mesoporous TiO2 with improved visible sensitive photocatalytic activity is reported. The mesoporous samples were characterized by low angle and wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption–desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and UV–visible absorbance spectroscopy. The degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation was investigated to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of these materials. Analytical results demonstrate that Cu2+ doping amount is crucial to affect the photocatalytic ability of the mesoporous titania. Among the samples, 0.05 at.% Cu2+ doped mesoporous TiO2 exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity.