Comparative Study of Fe,N-TiO₂ Photocatalysts under UV Light Irradiation

Abstract:

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) has been acknowledged as a promising photocatalyst in environmental remediation including wastewater treatment. In this study, TiO₂ nanoparticles co-doped with iron (Fe) and nitrogen (N) was synthesized via sol-gel method and subsequently followed by calcination process at 300 °C, 500 °C and 700 °C for 3 hours. The prime objective of this study is to investigate an effect of different calcination temperatures in enhancing the photocatalytic activity of synthesized TiO2 which was evaluated through the degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye. The structure and properties of the prepared samples were studied by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometer (UV-Vis). The results obtained from XRD showed the presence of anatase phase in all samples at 300 °C and 500 °C. Further increase of calcination temperature up to 700 °C, mixed-phase of anatase and rutile formed. XRD results also suggest that the addition of impurities has a great effect on the crystallinity and particle size of TiO₂. The obvious agglomeration phenomena existed in the annealed samples with nanometer size, as observed in FESEM images. The photocatalytic performance under UV light shows that co-doped Fe, N-TiO2 at 500 °C indicated highest MO degraded of 96.5 % within 3 hours of irradiation time. From the current finding, Fe,N-TiO₂ possessed the potential to be commercialized as a photocatalyst in wastewater remediation especially in treating dye pollution.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 908)
• Pages: 406-413
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-0m6w75
• Online since: January 2022
• Authors: Zaidi Malik, Ibrahim Siti Aida*, Ainuddin Ainun Rahmahwati, Rosniza Hussin, Kamdi Zakiah
• Keywords: Doped TiO₂, Photocatalytic Activity, Sol-Gel

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