Abstract
Photocatalytic oxidation of organic contaminants under UV light irradiation in aqueous solution was studied using Ag-TiO2/activated carbon (AC) photocatalyst. Rhodamine B (RhB) and Methyl Orange (MO) were selected as the model compounds. The Ag-TiO2/AC composites with a single-phase (anatase) framework was synthesized by a facile sol–gel method using titanium isopropoxide as a TiO2 precursor and depositing metal Ag on the surface of TiO2 nanostructures via a facile chemical reduction process. The asobtained composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption measurements (BET), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). As compared with the pristine TiO2, the Ag-TiO2/AC hybrid material exhibited improved photocatalytic efficiency (90%) for the UV-light photooxidation of RhB and MO. Investigations demonstrated that the enhancement can be attributed to the increase of the adsorption effect of activated carbon and the efficient separation and preventing of the recombination of electron-hole pairs. Moreover, the hydroxyl radical was detected as the main active species generated in the oxidation reaction of RhB or MO over Ag-TiO2/AC composite photocatalyst. A corresponding mechanism was also proposed for the photocatalysis process.
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