Photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B by mesoporous Ti-KIT-6 under UV light and solar light irradiation

Abstract

Highly ordered titanium incorporated mesoporous KIT-6 with different Si/Ti (10, 20 and 40) ratios was synthesized by hydrothermal method. Synthesized Ti-KIT-6 materials were characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption–desorption analysis, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The photo catalytic efficiency of all the materials was checked towards the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), one of the toxic and carcinogenic nature dyes. The complete degradation of RhB was found to occur with very low amount of Ti-KIT-6 within 3–4 h under sunlight (without stirring) and within 30–120 min under UV light. Hence, the utilization of Ti-KIT-6 for the complete degradation of toxic dye under sunlight became limelight which could be helpful for the waste water treatment in industrial level.