Co-Doping of Platinum (Pt), Chromium (Cr), and Vanadium (V) in TiO2 for Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity
TiO2 is the most widely used photocatalyst for the decomposition of various organic pollutants because of its high activity, chemical stability, low price, and nontoxicity. Doping TiO2 with transition metal ions has been frequently attempted to extend the spectral response of TiO2 into visible region since pure TiO2 requires near UV light absorption because of its wide band gap of 3.2 eV. In this research, the effect of co-doping metal ions such as Platinum (Pt), Chromium (Cr), and Vanadium (V) in TiO2 which separately shows visible-light photoactivity have been investigated in an attempt to enhance the photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. Pt-Cr-, Pt-V-, and Cr-V- co-doped TiO2 samples were successfully synthesized by sol-gel methods and studied by means of X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Photocatalytic activities were demonstrated for the degradation of Methylene Blue (MB), phenol and the oxidation of iodide in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation at wavelengths > 400 nm. Co-doped TiO2 with 0.3 % Pt and 0.3% Cr showed better photocatalytic activity in both MB degradation and oxidation of iodide than separately doped, whereas reaction rates of MB degradation and I- oxidation decreased in co-doped TiO2 with 0.3% Pt and 0.3% V. Co-doped TiO2 with V and Cr also showed good activity for the oxidation of iodide to tri-iodide. However, for the degradation of phenol, all co-doped TiO2 samples didn’t show significantly enhanced photocatalytic under visible light irradiation compared to their single doped counterparts.