Spectrophotometric studies of visible light induced photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange using phthalocyanine-modified Fe-doped TiO2 nanocrystals

In this paper, preparation and visible light induced photocatalytic activity of phthalocyanine-modified Fe-doped TiO2 nanocrystals (Pc/Fe-TiO2) with different Fe doping content (0, 0.05, 0.5 and 3.0 mol% Fe) as photocatalysts for the degradation of methyl orange have been reported. The study carried out using XRD, FT-IR, EDX, BET, DRS, UV–Vis, SEM and TEM techniques. Results revealed that modified TiO2 nanocrystals possessed only the anatase phase with crystal sizes of about 10–23 nm and high surface areas of 2.8–37.3 m2/g. It can be seen phthalocyanine and Fe3+ ion exist in photocatalysts based on analysis of FT-IR and EDX. The doping amount of Fe remarkably affects the activity of modified TiO2 nanocrystals as catalysts. The 0.5 mol% Fe doping exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity in this work. It was found that phthalocyanine and Fe induced a shift in the energy band gap to lower energies, which changes from 3.26 to 2.26 eV for pure TiO2 and Pc/3% Fe-TiO2 nanocrystals, respectively. Results of the degradation of methyl orange revealed that modified TiO2 nanocrystals showed much more photocatalytic activity than pure TiO2 under visible light which makes the applicability of TiO2 photocatalysts even more versatile.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► Spectrophotometric studies of visible light induced photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange. ► Using novel phthalocyanine-modified Fe-doped TiO2 nanocrystals as photocatalysts for the first time. ► More photocatalytic activity of the photocatalysts than TiO2 under visible light.