Investigation of TiO2 doped with nitrogen and vanadium using hydrothermal/Sol-Gel method and its application for dyes photodegradation

Abstract

The doping process of TiO2 using a combination method, sol-gel and hydrothermal, has been conducted. The presence of anatase and rutile phase of TiO2 and doped TiO2 has been confirmed using UV-DRS, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and EPR. The Nitrogen-doped TiO2 (N-TiO2) showed the highest photoactivity in the powder form than the as-prepared TiO2 (rutile), anatase and Vanadium-doped TiO2 (V-TiO2). The influence of pH during the preparation of N-TiO2 showed that pH gives a big effect to the morphology and photoactivity of the photocatalyst. The N-TiO2 at pH 2 showed higher photoactivity than N-TiO2 at pH 4 and it also showed a fine morphology. The N-TiO2 also showed the highest photoactivity when it was immobilized in the DPNR matrix. After being immobilized, the photoactivity of the as-prepared photocatalyst was decreased to be 0–30%.