Transition metals (Mn, Ni, Co) doping in TiO2 nanoparticles and their effect on degradation of diethyl phthalate

Abstract

Transition metal-doped TiO2 nanoparticles are synthesized by sol–gel method. The as-prepared samples are characterized by various techniques to correlate structural and optical properties with chemical nature of dopants and their effect on photocatalytic degradation of diethyl phthalate esters. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals that all the samples are crystalline and exhibit anatase as a major phase. Chemical nature of dopants could not affect the formation of anatase and its volume fraction. The crystallite size of undoped and doped TiO2 nanoparticles varies between 10 and 12 nm as confirmed by XRD and transmission electron microscope. The lowest optical band gap observed is 2.47 eV in Mn-doped TiO2. Among all the samples, Ni-doped TiO2 sample shows better photocatalytic activity and degradation of diethyl phthalate due to its lower crystallite size and higher surface area than those of Mn- and Co-doped TiO2 samples.