Synthesis and Investigation of Na-Zeolite-Decorated Black TiO2 Hybrid Material with Enhanced Properties

Enhancing the photocatalytic efficiency of oxide materials under Vis light remains a significant challenge within the scientific community. Natural zeolite–metal oxide composites exhibit enhanced properties, especially due to the zeolite’s large active surface area, which facilitates the incorporation of metal oxide nanoparticles into its structure, thereby significantly increasing photocatalytic efficiency. The present study presents the synthesis of Na-zeolite-decorated black-TiO2 by the impregnation method, in order to improve the structural characteristics to absorb into visible light. The experimental protocol involves two main steps: first, the synthesis of black-TiO2 and white-TiO2 nanocrystals using the sol-gel method, and second, the preparation of hybrid materials, consisting of Na-zeolite decorated with black-TiO2 and white-TiO2, through impregnation followed by thermal treatment. The morpho-structural and optical properties of the as-synthesized materials were investigated using XRD, SEM/EDX, FTIR, and DRUV-VIS analysis. The characterization results indicated that natural zeolite has a good thermal stabilization, the lamellar texture of natural zeolite and spherical form of anatase-TiO2 materials being highlighted by SEM. In the case of Na-zeolite-decorated black-TiO2, the adsorption edge is slightly shifted to the visible range, while Na-zeolite-decorated white-TiO2 absorbs only in the ultraviolet region. The above results showed that these hybrid materials are adequate for application in photocatalytic processes.