Synthesis, characterisation and photocatalytic activity of natural zeolite supported Fe/S and Cr/S codoped nanoTiO₂ photocatalysts

Abstract

Natural zeolite supported Fe/S and Cr/S codoped nanoTiO₂ photocatalysts were synthesised by TiCl₄ hydrolysis method. The materials were characterised by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflection spectroscopy and photoluminescence. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange in aqueous solution. The results showed that photocatalytic activity of Fe/S codoped sample was higher than that of Fe and S doped samples respectively, although Fe/S codoping further enhanced recombination rate of TiO₂ electron–hole pairs. The photocatalytic activity of Cr/S doped sample was higher than that of S doped sample, but a little lower than that of Cr doped sample. Further studies on how to decrease the recombination rate of electron–hole pairs and improve the photocatalytic activity of ions codoped photocatalysts should be investigated.

Keywords:

• Natural zeolite
• Fe/S codoping
• Cr/S codoping
• TiO₂
• Photocatalysts

Acknowledgements

The project supported by the Hebei Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. E2008000537), State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing (Wuhan University of Technology) (No. 2013-KF-13), Foundation of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology (No. BJ12-18) and Shaanxi Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. 2013JQ6007).