Investigation of photocatalytic removal of methyl orange by titanium dioxide nanoparticles modified with silver and cobalt
Subject Areas : Water and Environment
Nasim Ziaeifar
1
(Assistant Prof. of applied Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Maragheh branch, Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran. *(CorrespondingAuthor))
saber Khodaei
2
(Assistant Professor, of Statistics Department, Maragheh branch, Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran.)
Keywords: modified titanium dioxide nanoparticles, methyl orange, silver and cobalt, Removal of contaminants,
Abstract :
Background and Objective: In order to investigate the photocatalytic activity of modified titanium dioxide nanoparticles in order to remove methyl orange contaminants, parameters such as the amount of contaminant concentration, the amount of photocatalytic, the pH of the solution and the calcination temperature were investigated. Material and Methodology: In this study, Ag-Co / TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized by TEM, SEM, XRD and EDX techniques. The results of XRD diffraction studies showed that the simultaneous deposition of silver and cobalt had no effect on the crystalline pattern of titanium dioxide. The formation of Ag-Co / TiO2 nanoparticles and their approximate size were confirmed using the XRD spectrum and is about 270 nm. TEM images with a particle size of about 300 nm also confirm the XRD results. The morphology and purity of these synthesized nanoparticles were evaluated through SEM and EDX images. The results of EDX analysis showed that Ag-Co / TiO2 nanoparticles prepared by sol-gel method did not have a peak of impurity in the sample. The photocatalytic activity of Ag-Co / TiO2 nanoparticles under visible light irradiation was evaluated in the removal of methyl orange contaminants. Findings: Co doped TiO2 nanoparticles by Ag and Co were shown to have highest activity as compared with the Ag/TiO2 , Co /TiO2 and pure TiO2 nanoparticles. The highest percentage of methyl orange removal by Ag-Co / TiO2 is 99.5% in 75 minutes. Discussion and Conclusion: The optimum contents of silver and Cobalt for the preparation of co-doped Ag,Co/TiO2 nanoparticles were 0.9 and 0.3 at mol%, respectively
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