Preparation of V-doped TiO₂ photocatalysts by the solution combustion method and their visible light photocatalysis activities

Abstract

A series of nanocrystalline V-doped (0.0–3.0 at.%) TiO₂ catalysts have been successfully prepared by the one-step solution combustion method using urea as a fuel. The obtained powders were characterized by XRD, SEM, Raman, XPS and UV-Vis DRS. The effects of V doping concentration on the phase structure and photocatalytic properties were investigated. XRD, Raman, and XPS show that V doping diffuses into TiO₂ crystal lattice mainly in the form of V⁵⁺ and causes a phase transition from anatase to rutile. V doping can widen the light absorption range of TiO₂, with the absorption threshold wavelength shifting from 425 to 625 nm. The photocatalytic activity of V-doped TiO₂ powders were evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation. It is found that V doping enhances the photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation and the optimal degradation rate of MO is about 95.8% with 1.0 at% V-doped TiO₂.

Keywords

solution combustion / titanium dioxide / V doping / photocatalyst

References

[1] Yu H G, Irie H, Shimodaira Y, . An Efficient Visible Light Sensitive Fe(III)-Grafted TiO₂ Photocatalyst[J]. J. Phys. Chem. C, 2010, 11439: 16 481-16 487.

[2] Yang G D, Jiang Z, Shi H H, . Preparation of Highly Visible Light Active N-doped TiO₂ Photocatalyst[J]. J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20: 5 301-5 309.

[3] Bui T D, Kimura A, Ikeda S, . Determination of Oxygen Sources for Oxidation of Benzene on TiO₂ Photocatalysts in Aqueous Solutions Containing Molecular Oxygen[J]. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2010, 13224: 8 453-8 458.

[4] Liu G, Sun C H, Yan X X, . Iodine Doped Anatase TiO₂ Photocatalyst with Ultra-long Visible Light Response: Correlation Between Geometric/electronic Structures and Mechanisms[J]. J. Mater. Chem., 2009, 19: 2 822-2 829.

[5] Klosek S, Raftery D Visible Light Driven V-Doped TiO₂ Photocatalyst and its Photooxidation of Ethanol[J]. J. Phys. Chem. B, 2001, 105: 2 815-2 819.

[6] In S, Orlov A, Berg R, . Effective Visible Light-Activated B-Doped and B,N-Codoped TiO₂ Photocatalysts[J]. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129: 13 790-13 791.

[7] Quan X J, Zhao Q H, Tan H Q, . Comparative Study of Lanthanide Oxide Doped Titanium Dioxide Photocatalysts Prepared by Coprecipitation and Sol-gel Process[J]. J. Mater. Chem Phys., 2009, 114: 90-98.

[8] Choi W, Termin A, Hoffmann M R The Role of Metal Ion Dopants in Quantum-sized TiO₂: Correlation Between Photoreactivity and Charge Carrier Recombination Dynamics[J]. J. Phys. Chem., 1994, 98: 13 669-13 679.

[9] Yang X X, Cao C, Hohn K, . Highly Visble-light Active C- and V-doped TiO₂ for Degradation of Acetaldehyde[J]. J. Catal., 2007, 252: 296-302.

[10] Martin S T, Morrison C L, Hoffmann M R Photochemical Mechanism of Size-quantiezed Vanadium-doped TiO₂ Particles[J]. J. Phys. Chem., 1994, 98: 13 695-13 704.

[11] Tian Z M, Yuan S L, Yin S Y, . Synthesis and Magnetic Properties of Vanadium Doped Anatase TiO₂ Nanoparticles[J]. J. Magn. Magn. Mater., 2008, 320: L5-9.

[12] Anpo M, Ichihashi Y, Takeuchi M, . Design of Unique Titanium Oxide Photocatalysts by an Advanced Metal Ion-implantation Method and Photocatalytic Reactions Under Visible Light Irradiation[J]. Rse. Chem. Intermed., 1998, 24: 143-149.

[13] Zhou W F, Liu Q J, Zhu Z Q, . Preparation and Properties of Vanadium-doped TiO₂ Photocatalysts[J]. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 2010, 43: 035 301-035 306.

[14] Liu B S, Wang X L, Cai G F, . Low Temperature Fabrication of V-doped TiO₂ Nanoparticles, Structure and Photocatalytic Studies[J]. J. Hazard. Mater., 2009, 169: 1 112-1 118.

[15] Wu J C S, Chen C A Visible-light Response Vanadium-doped Titania Nanocatalyst by Sol-gel method[J]. J. Photochem. Photobiol. A, 2004, 163: 509-515.

[16] Yamashita H, Anpo M Application of an Ion Beam Technique for the Design of Visible Light-sensitive, Highly Efficient and Highly Selective Photocatalysts: Ion-implantation and Ionized Cluster Beam Methods[J]. Catal. Surv. Asia, 2004, 8: 35-45.

[17] Gu D E, Yang B C, Hu Y D A Novel Method for Preparing V-doped Titanium Dioxide Thin Film Photocatalysts with High Photocatalytic Activity Under Visible Light Irradiation[J]. Catal. Lett., 2007, 118: 254-259.

[18] Zhang H, Banfield J F Understanding Polymorphic Phase Transformation Behavior during Growth of Nanocrystalline Aggregates: Insights From TiO₂[J]. J. Phys. Chem. B, 2000, 104: 3 481-3 487.

[19] Tiana B Z, Li C Z, Gua F, . Flame Sprayed V-doped TiO₂ Nanoparticles with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity under Visible Light Irradiation[J]. Chem. Eng. J., 2009, 151: 220-227.

[20] Wang Z M, Yang G X, Biswas P, . Processing of Iron-doped Titania Powders in Flame Aerosol Reactors[J]. Powder Technol., 2001, 114: 197-204.

[21] Nagaveni K, Hegde M S, Ravishankar N, . Synthesis and Structure of Nanocrystalline TiO₂ with Lower Band Gap Showing High Photocatalytic Activity[J]. Langmuir, 2004, 20: 2 900-2 907.

[22] Sanchez E, Lopez T Effect of the Preparation Method on the Band Gap of Titania and Platinum-titania Sol-gel Materials[J]. Mater. Lett., 1995, 25: 271-275.

[23] Luo Q, Li X W, Cai Q Z, . Preparation of Narrow Band Gap V₂O₅/TiO₂ Composite Films by Micro-arc Oxidation[J]. Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 2012, 19: 1 045-1 051.

[24] Yang X, Ma F Y, Li K X, . Mixed Phase Titania Nanocomposite Co-doped with Metallic Silver and Vanadium Oxide: New Efficient Photocatalyst for Dye Degradation[J]. J. Hazard. Mater., 2010, 175: 429-38.