Enhanced visible light photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye using efficient Mg/S co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles

Abstract

Herein, the Mg-S co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by the sol-gel method, and their photocatalytic activity of MB (methylene blue) dye was examined under simulated visible light. X-ray diffraction patterns of Mg-S co-doped TiO2 reveal an average crystallite size of 19.3 nm. Moreover, results showed that Mg/S co-doped TiO2 NPs had pure anatase structures with spherical morphology. The band gap energy Mg/S co-doped TiO2 was decreased from 3.12 to 2.78 eV by adding the doping and codoping of Mg and S into TiO2 NPs. The Mg/S co-doped TiO2 NPs showed excellent photocatalytic activity compared to pristine TiO2, Mg-TiO2, and S-TiO2 NPs. The maximum degradation efficiency of MB was achieved at 94.8% for Mg/S co-doped TiO2 NPs. Meanwhile, the possible photocatalytic mechanism of photocatalysts was discussed. Different weight percentages of Mg/S co-doped TiO2 were used to investigate the effect of the Ag concentration on antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and the maximum antibacterial activity was achieved by 24 mm and 22 mm for TiO2 NPs membrane doped and co-doped with Mg/S. The current investigation delivers a promising strategy to promote photocatalytic activity to eliminate waterborne contaminants.