Abstract
The objective of this research is to study the effects of zirconium and silver co-dopants on the photocatalytic reactivity of TiO2. Zirconium and silver co-doped titanium dioxide (Zr-Ag co-doped TiO2) was synthesized by sol-gel method. The molar ratio of silver was fixed at 5% mol, while the molar ratio of zirconium was varied at 5, 10, and 15% mol. The synthesized photocatalysts were calcined at 500 °C for 5 h. The characteristics of the photocatalysts were examined by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The XRD results indicated that the anatase phase of TiO2 and metal doping did not affect the crystal phase of TiO2, and the FESEM confirmed the presence of silver and zirconium in co-doped TiO2. After doping, the band gap energy of the doped TiO2 was significantly reduced due to the red shift effect. The photocatalytic reactivity and kinetics of the photocatalysts were investigated by photocatalytic decolorization of methylene blue (MB) under UV and fluorescent light. Photocatalytic decolorization of MB dramatically improved when TiO2 was co-doped with silver and zirconium. The antibacterial efficiency of Zr-Ag co-doped TiO2 against Escherichia coli (E. coli) was also investigated under fluorescent light and in the dark. The synergistic effects of zirconium and silver dopants on the photocatalytic and antibacterial activity of TiO2 were observed. The 5% mol of silver and 10% mol of zirconium co-doped TiO2 exhibited the highest decolorization efficiency at 98.07% under fluorescent light and could completely inhibit E. coli under fluorescent light within 20 min.
Published Version
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