Preparation of supporting photocatalysts for water treatment using natural sunlight as an alternative driving energy

Abstract

The present study focus on synthesis of visible-light active pure, Fluoride (F) - and Silica (Si)-doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalyst. Designing the nanoparticles under sol–gel process of synthesis method is adopted. Characterizations such as SEM, XRD, FTIR, and DLS revealed about the crystallinity, physico-catalytic properties of the photocatalysts. The nanomaterials were tested for their photocatalytic properties against crystal violet, methyl orange, oil and grease and chemical oxygen demand (COD) remediation. To check the degradation efficiency samples were kept in different light sources namely natural sunlight, dark + sunlight and LED light and were tested using UV–Vis spectroscopy. It is noteworthy that the as-synthesized materials best acted on target parameters under natural sunlight (visible range) which a renewable sources of energy taken as an alternative driving energy. Specifically, Si-doped TiO2 was found to be superior over F-doped and pure (undoped) TiO2 in terms of degradation efficiencies.