Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of Porphyrin Tin(IV) Sensitized TiO₂ Nanoparticles for the Degradation of 4-Nitrophenol and Methyl Orange

Abstract

A stable metalloporphyrin sensitized TiO₂ (Degussa P25) photocatalyst was prepared by using trans-dihydroxo[5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin]tin(IV) (SnP) as a sensitizer in a simple impregnation process. The solid diffuse reflectance ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectrum of the SnP sensitized TiO₂ photocatalyst (SnP-TiO₂) indicated that there existed interaction between SnP and TiO₂. It was found that SnP-TiO₂ exhibited an enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity as compared with that over P25 for the degradation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and methyl orange (MO) in aqueous solutions. The mechanism exploration showed that the degradation of MO and 4-NP experienced two different ways, that is, MO was photodegraded by reactive oxygen species and 4-NP was directly photodegraded by the excited state of SnP. Furthermore, it was found that the loading content of SnP had an important influence on the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂. The maximum photocatalytic efficiency was achieved when the contents of SnP were 25 mg and 30 mg per gram TiO₂ for MO and 4-NP, respectively. Importantly, SnP-TiO₂ was particularly stable and the photocatalytic activity was hardly decreased after being recycled seven times in the presence of oxygen, which could be attributed to the easy reductive regeneration of SnP.

Keywords:

• Porphyrin tin(IV)
• sensitization
• TiO2 nanoparticles
• visible light photocatalysis

Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2009AA05Z101).