Electronic properties and photodegradation ability of V–TiO2 for aniline

Abstract

Photocatalytic technology has broad prospects in the degradation of organic pollutants due to its green, energy-saving and high-efficiency characteristics. In this study, TiO2 and V–TiO2 were prepared by hydrothermal method, and the catalysts were tested by experimental and theoretical calculations under a 400 W metal halide lamp degradation efficiency for aniline (30 mg/L). The synthetic photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, HRTEM, FT-IR, XPS, UV–Vis DRS, PL, EIS, and photocurrent, the results showed that the edges of the V-doped TiO2 absorption band were redshifted, the band gap value were reduced, the photocatalytic activity were improved, and the PL showed e−/h+ had the lowest composite rate for 1.5 mol%V–TiO2 and broadens the optical response range. 1.5 mol% V was the optimal value for photodegrading aniline, and moderate V modification can significantly inhibit the complexation of e−/h+ pairs. Finally, stability measurements performed over 5 cycles show that 1.5 mol%V–TiO2 has excellent stability. The calculation results show that the optical band gap of V–TiO2 were significantly reduced, the photocatalytic performance of V–TiO2 were greatly enhanced.