Structural modification of nano titania by doping with Barium and Copper – Impact on photocatalysis: Applications in degradation of dye and pathogens

Abstract

Ba/Cu co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles with visible light activity were fabricated by the sol-gel method with different weight percentages for the decontamination of toxic organic azo dye pollutants. The characterizations of fabricated samples were evaluated by using UV–Vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction Spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and X-ray Fluorescence techniques. The results of co-doping revealed a lower band gap of 2.59 ​eV (UV–Vis DRS), a high surface area of 138 ​m2/g (BET), and anatase phase formation (XRD), which are the major contributing factors for efficient photocatalytic activity. SEM-EDX and TEM analyses showed the rough morphology, uniform distribution of dopants with spherical shape. XPES and XRF confirmed the incorporation of Ba and Cu into TiO2 lattice. Owing to the results of Ba/Cu co-doped samples, BCT3 (Ba-0.25% and Cu-0.75%) has shown the best photocatalytic activity by degrading carcinogenic food/textile dye Amaranth, within 50 ​min with optimum reaction parameters of pH ​= ​3, catalyst dosage of 0.1 ​g/L, and dye concentration of 10 ​mg/L under visible light irradiation. BCT3 showed efficient antibacterial activity when tested for Bacillus subtilis (gram ​+ ​ve) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (gram -ve).