TiO2/AC Composites for Adsorption-Photocatalytic of Methyl Orange

Abstract

Herein, the adsorption-photocatalytic performance of composite titanium dioxide (TiO2) and Activated Carbon (AC) to decompose methyl orange was investigated systematically. This work demonstrated the synthesis of TiO2/AC composite via the sol-gel method. After getting the composite TiO2/AC under different ratios of AC, the prepared particles were then annealed at 500°C for 2 h. The presence of AC detected by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra at 1028 nm. Based on Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, the result showed that the prepared particles specific surface area increased by increasing the AC ratio. The prepared photocatalyst was used to decompose methyl orange under UV light irradiation for 90 minutes. From the photocatalytic performance, the additional AC did not influence the adsorption process significantly under dark conditions. Interestingly, during the irradiation process, methyl orang could be decomposed until 62.5%, which means 15% higher than that of bare TiO2. The present result showed that an additional AC could enhance photocatalytic performance due to its ability as an electron transfer and avoid the recombination process between electrons and holes.