Study of pure and Ag-doped TiO2 nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the most basic materials in our daily life that has wide applications as a whitening agent and an excellent photocatalyst material. Other noticeable applications include dye-sensitized solar cells, sunscreen and UV blocking pigments, cosmetics, paint, paper, food additive and flavor enhancer. Metal doping enhances the photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles. Therefore, we have prepared pure and Ag-doped TiO2 nanoparticles using Ti-(IV)-isopropoxide as precursor. The resulting materials were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The XRD results showed the different structural phases and crystallite size of the nanoparticles. The band gap of the photocatalysts decreased by subsequent addition of the dopant. Further, the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) was carried out for both pure and Ag doped TiO2 nanoparticles under sunlight upto 90 minutes. The degradation of MB dye was observed to be directly related to the radiation time.