Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic studies of Carbon, Cobalt co-doped mesoporous nano titania with anatase crystalline structure

Abstract

Carbon, Cobalt co-doped mesoporous titania with anatase crystalline structure (C, Co-MTiO2) was prepared using templating method. The material was characterized by techniques like N2 Physisorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), HRTEM, UV-Vis. The XRD and N2 physisorption results indicated that the catalyst was a mesoporous material with anatase crystalline structure that carbon and cobalt were highly dispersed on the surface of the TiO2, or were incorporated into the TiO2 framework. The HRTEM images of C, Co-MTiO2 showed uniform hexagonal channel arrays in large areas. The catalyst was used for the solar photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and methyl violet.It was found that the catalyst exhibited an excellent activity of photocatalytic degradation under solar light irradiation in summer, compared to CoMTiO2. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of C, Co-MTiO2 catalyst may be attributed to the anatase crystalline structure, nano-size, mesoporous channels, synergistic effects of carbon and cobalt.