Influence of calcination temperature on the characteristic and sonophotocatalytic activities of Fe-doped TiO2 particles

Abstract

In this study, 3 wt% Fe-doped TiO2 particles were prepared by sol-gel method using tetrabutyl titanate and iron (III) nitrate nonahydrate as precursors. Calcination of the prepared samples was carried out at temperature of 200, 400, 600 and 800 °C for 2 h. The effect of calcination temperature on the composition, structure and morphology of Fe-doped TiO2 were characterized using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscope (EDX) and X-ray Diffractometer (XRD). The FESEM images revealed changes in particle size from 34 to 148 nm for samples calcined at 200 to 800 °C, respectively. Meanwhile, XRD results demonstrated the presence of rutile phase in catalysts which were calcined above 600 °C. Sonophotocatalytic degradation of paracetamol using ultraviolet (UV) light and ultrasonic irradiation was performed to investigate the influence of calcination temperature on the catalytic activity of Fe-doped TiO2. Among all the calcined catalysts, the Fe-doped TiO2-600 achieved the highest degradation efficiency (74%) due to the presence of mixed anatase and rutile phases. This proved that calcination temperature is a critical parameter which affects the characteristics and catalytic activity of Fe-doped TiO2 catalyst in the sonophoto-degradation process.