Synthesis, Characterization and Investigation of Photocatalytic Activity of transition metal-doped TiO2 Nanostructures

In this work, M-doped TiO2 nanostructures (M: Fe, Co and Ni) were synthesized by reverse microemulsion method. The as-prepared products were analyzed by different techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The effect of various dopants (Fe, Co and Ni) on band gap and photocatalytic properties of TiO2 was investigated. The decolorization abilities of the as-prepared M-TiO2 nanostructures (M = Fe, Co and Ni) under UV and visible irradiation were investigated using three dyes: Acid Red 1, Reactive Blue 21 and Indigo Carmine. The role of pH value and reaction time on photocatalytic performance of products was also studied. The results showed that the degradation of dyes in lower pH is more and photocatalytic performance Fe-doped TiO2 is better than the others. Kinetic investigation of the photodegradation illustrated reactions were following the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism.