HYDROTHERMALLY DEVELOPED TITANIUM DIOXIDE AND EUROPIUM-DOPED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR PHOTODEGRADATION APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Metal oxide nanocomposites are a critical element in nanoscale technology. Because of their many uses, a great deal of study has involved photocatalytic materials. These photocatalytic degradation characteristics also included applications like solar-cell applications. Waste­water management was included in the photodegradation property. The following study explored the development of europium tungstate nanocomposites with titanium dioxide and how they can be used in photocatalytic applications. The synthesis was conducted using the hydrothermal method and is characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy. Application experiments were conducted using four distinct dyes, namely methyl orange, methylene blue, congo red and methyl red. The photodegradation experiments were conducted using visible light emitted by a tungsten-filament lamp. Methylene blue and methyl orange degraded to 20 % and 35 % after 1 hour respectively. After 90 min, the degradation of methylene blue went down to 15 % and congo red degraded down to 9 %. With the experiment conducted, the sample showed that it had a relatively higher photodegradation property with the dyes used. The results show that the compound had better reaction with these dyes, with a degradation down to 10 %.