IMPROVED PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF SURFACE MODIFIED TiO₂ WITH PLATINUM

Abstract

The present article describes the synthesis of platinized TiO 2 nanocomposite and its photocatalytic activity. The surface modification of the catalyst was carried out by platinum metals adopting a modified photo-deposition method. The effect of platinum loadings, such as 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 wt% on the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 has been studied. The study showed that the activity of TiO 2 can be significantly enhanced by depositing an optimum concentration of platinum metals that help to prevent the electron hole–pair recombination which is a major energy wasting step in photocatalysis. The photocatalytic efficiency of various samples was tested by studying the photo-oxidation of a dye namely Methyl Orange as probe reaction.