Photocatalytic degradation of aquatic pollutants by modified titania

Abstract

Present work attempts to highlight the various parameters which affect the newlinephotodegradation of rhodamine B dye in presence of carbon, nitrogen, and newlinenitrogen-sulphur co-doped photocatalysts. The prepared photocatalysts are newlineeco-friendly, high photocatalytic effect and non-toxic. Dextrose, ammonium newlinehydroxide, ammonium sulphate are the starting precursor for carbon, nitrogen and newlinenitrogen-sulphur co-doped TiO2 photocatalysts. The as-prepared photocatalyst is newlinecalcined and the temperatures are prefixed as 400, 500, 600°C for carbon and named newlineas 1C, 2C, and 3C-TiO2 , 400, 600, 800°C for nitrogen and named as 1N, 2N, and newline3N-TiO2 500, 800°C for nitrogen- sulphur co-doped and named as 1NS and newline2NS-TiO2. newlinePhotodegradation percentage of rhodamine B is maximum in presence of newlinecarbon-doped TiO2 at 400°C, nitrogen-doped TiO2 at 400°C and nitrogen-sulphur newlineco-doped TiO2 at 800°C. All the prepared photocatalysts reflect the better newlinephotocatalytic effect in 0.15 x 10-4M rhodamine B solution of pH 10.6. The optimum newlineamount of catalyst used for maximum degradation is 0.2 g / 100 ml for 3C-TiO2 and newline1N-TiO2 but 2NS-TiO2 need only 0.1g for 95 % degradation. newlineThe Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the surface newlinemorphology of the prepared photocatalysts depends on calcination temperature. The newlinepurity and the stoichiometry of the photocatalysts are identified by chemical newlinecomposition mapping through Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). GC-MS newlineshows the non-toxic fragments obtained by the photodegradation of rhodamine B. newline