Synthesis, characterization, and study of Copper doped in Titanium dioxide, and investigation of its effect on photo-catalytic destruction of organic pollutants in water

Introduction: Titanium dioxide is a semiconducting material of numerous applications in photo-catalysts, refineries, energy conversion in solar cells, hydrogen production, etc. This is due to its specific optical and chemical properties, as well as its gap band [1]. Sensitizing titanium dioxide nanostructures to visible light is of vital importance. One of the most significant procedures to reduce the energy gap to attract visible light is doping titanium dioxide structures with different material. In present study, we used TiO2, and TiO2 doped with copper, nanoparticles to destroy the organic dye in an aquatic environment with normal pH. Methods: To this end, we put titanium oxide and copper chloride powders in an acetonitrile-ethanol solution for 18 hours in an autoclave with a temperature of 180°C.After washing and centrifuge, the obtained catalyst was employed to destroy organic compounds in water. The light required in the project was supplied with LED lamps, Tungsten lights, and the sun. The results indicated that doping copper in titanium dioxide structure reduces band gap. Results: The resultant catalyst is more sensitive to light than normal titanium dioxide, and it is activated with longer wavelengths, as well. 50 mg/L of synthetized catalyst completely destroys methylene blue (concentration of methylene blue = 1000 ppm). The best results were obtained with LED radiation (λ≥400nm). Destruction of colored pollutants with visible ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy was investigated, and XRD, SEM, and EDAX were employed to characterization the synthetized catalyst.

کلیدواژه ها:

photo-catalytic‎ ، Copper doped ، TiO2