In,V-codoped TiO2 nanocomposite prepared via a photochemical reduction technique as a novel high efficiency visible-light-driven nanophotocatalyst

摘要

In the current study, a series of novel, high efficiency photocatalysts of In,V-codoped TiO2 were developed. The TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel and hydrothermal methods and different molar percentages (0.1-1%) of vanadium (V) and Indium (In) nanoclusters were deposited over the TiO2 nanoparticles via photochemical reduction. XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, XPS and UV-vis DRS analyses were carried out to characterize the prepared In,V-codoped TiO2 nanocatalysts, and methyl orange (MO) was used as the probe environmental pollutant to test the photocatalytic performance of the prepared catalysts under UV and visible light irradiation. Our study demonstrated that In and V nanoclusters were successfully deposited over TiO2 particles via a photochemical deposition technique and the metal doping slightly suppressed TiO2 crystal growth. The optical analysis showed a red shift in the light absorption spectrum and decrease in the band gap of In,V-codoped TiO2 catalysts compared to that of parent TiO2. XPS study revealed that the doped elements In and V are in oxidation state of 3 (In-III), 4 (V-IV) and 5 (V-V). The photo-oxidative decomposition of MO showed that doping of In and V can considerably improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO2. Thus, for the first time, we demonstrated that TiO2 codoped with binary metals of In and V can serve as a high efficiency visible-light-active photocatalyst.