Tantalum doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles for efficient photocatalytic degradation of dyes

Abstract

In this work, the hydrothermal method was utilized for the facile synthesis of tantalum (Ta) doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles. A study of structural, morphological, and optical properties was conducted using various characterizations such as powder X-ray diffraction method (XRD), Raman analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) measurements, Ultraviolet-Visible diffusion reflection (UV–vis-DRS) spectroscopy. The structure of as-synthesized nanoparticles was analyzed by the XRD and their phase purity was confirmed with Raman analysis. The functional groups present in the samples were verified with Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra which showed bands that are characteristic of the titanium dioxide (Ti-O-Ti) bonds. Also, it shows the presence of the Ta-O-Ta bond which confirms the presence of tantalum in TiO2. The optical band gap of as-synthesized TiO2 was slightly reduced when doped with tantalum. The morphology and nature of the samples were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic activity of the pure TiO2 and Ta-doped TiO2 was investigated by using Rhodamine B (Rh B) and Methylene Blue (MB) dyes and were confirmed with the first-order kinetics. The synthesized nanoparticles were used for the degradation of the Rh B and MB dyes under ultraviolet light irradiation for 120 minutes. Ta-doped TiO2 nanomaterials, remarkably Ta with 3 wt.% showed enhanced photocatalytic dye degradation when compared with as-synthesized TiO2.