Effect of Calcination Temperature of Carbon Doped TiO₂ (C-TiO₂) on Photocatalytic Activity under Visible Light

Abstract

Carbon doped TiO 2 was prepared by solgel method using titanium isopropoxide and acetylacetone as the precursors for titanium and carbon respectively. Systematic studies on the calcination temperature and its impact on surface properties and photocatalytic activities under visible light was investigated. The dopant concentration was fixed at 0.75% and the calcinations temperature was varied from 450 to 750oC.The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, UV-Vis DRS and FESEM in order to understand the relationship between the properties and its photocatalytic activities. The photocatalytic activity was measured by carrying out a standard photodegradation test under domestic illumination lamp with methylene blue as the model pollutant. With three hours of irradiation time, 69.7% of methylene blue was removed by C-TiO 2 which was calcined at an optimum temperature of 600°C.