Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters) ›› 2016, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (1): 17-27.DOI: 10.1007/s40195-015-0356-z

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Synthesis and Characterization of C-TiO2/FeTiO3 and CQD/C-TiO2/FeTiO3 Photocatalysts with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activities Under Sunlight Irradiation

Ramakrishna Dadigala1, Bhagavanth Reddy Gangapuram1, Rajkumar Bandi1, Ayodhya Dasari1, Veerabhadram Guttena()   

  1. 1.Department of Chemistry, Osmania University, Hyderabad 500007, Telangana State, India
  • Received:2015-12-21 Revised:2016-01-10 Online:2016-01-10 Published:2016-01-10

Abstract:

Sunlight-driven C-TiO2/FeTiO3 composites were synthesized with different weight fractions of FeTiO3. The as-prepared samples were characterized by UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and photoluminescence. Under sunlight irradiation, the C-TiO2/FeTiO3 photocatalysts degraded methyl orange (MO) efficiently and displayed much higher photocatalytic activity than that of pure FeTiO3 or carbon-doped titanium dioxide (C-TiO2), and the C-TiO2/FeTiO3 photocatalyst with 10 wt% of FeTiO3 exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity was mainly ascribed to the formation of a heterojunction between C-TiO2 and FeTiO3, which facilitated the transfer and separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The quenching effects of different scavengers demonstrated that the reactive superoxide radicals (·O2-) and hydroxyl radicals (·OH) played a major role in the MO degradation. The possible photocatalytic mechanism is discussed on the basis of the band structures of C-TiO2 and FeTiO3. To further enhance the photocatalytic efficiency, double-heterojunctioned CQD/C-TiO2/FeTiO3 composite was prepared by loading carbon quantum dots onto the C-TiO2/FeTiO3 surface.

Key words: C-TiO2, FeTiO3, CQD, Composites, Sunlight photocatalytic activity