Noticeably Improved Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of TiO <sub>2</sub> Nanoparticles through co‐Doping of Activated Charcoal and Fe Towards Methylene Blue Degradation
Ramanujam Girija, S. Stella Mary, G. Balakrishnan, Sivalingam Muthu Mariappan, Mohamed S. Hamdy, Mohd. Shkir
Abstract
Abstract Generating enormous oxygen radicals with metal oxides is a viable route to achieve efficient and eco‐friendly photocatalysis. To this aim, we co‐doped the TiO 2 nanoparticles with activated charcoal (AC) and Fe (transition element) for the methylene blue (MB) dye degradation. The AC significantly enhances the adsorption of MB on the TiO 2 surface, whereas the Fe dopants decrease its bandgap. To begin with, the modified TiO 2 is prepared with chemical methods and the structural and morphological recordings are performed with XRD and FESEM, respectively. Then the elemental compositions and their oxidation states are probed with XPS analysis. The efficient charge carrier separation under white light illumination enhances the photocatalytic activity of modified TiO 2 than its counterpart. The photocatalytic studies show that, 56 and 74 % of methylene blue dye degradation occurs with Fe doped TiO 2 and AC doped TiO 2 respectively. Interestingly, a maximum catalytic efficiency of 98 % is obtained for the Fe, AC co‐doped TiO 2 samples in 90 min, and we provide a novel strategy to convert the large bandgap TiO 2 into visible light photocatalyst.