TiO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> Gel Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue and Composite Energy Gap Calculation

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to mix TiO2 and SiO2 gel for photo catalyzing in methylene blue and calculated energy gap of TiO2- SiO2 gel composite. Nanoparticles of TiO2-doped SiO2 gels have been synthesized for use as composites in photodegradation of methylene blue. SiO2 gel was synthesized by a sol-gel method from rice husk ash. TiO2 was synthesized by microwave method from TiOSO4. The composite of TiO2-SiO2 was prepared by mixing of 25% wt TiO2 and 75% wt SiO2 gel and SiO2 gel bead. This work can be dived into two kinds of TiO­2 sources were TiO2 from microwave synthesis (MW) and TiO2 from P25. The UV absorption values of methylene blue after used TiO2-SiO2 composite were measured. Wavelengths of composites were measured by Uv-vis reflectometer and energy gap were calculated.