Synthesis and Characterizations of Novel Mesostructured TUD-C supported Copper-doped Titania

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has garnered extensive application as a photocatalyst owing to its excellent chemical stability and cost-effectiveness. Nonetheless, its practical efficiency is hindered by several intrinsic limitations, including a relatively wide band gap, rapid recombination of photoinduced electron-hole pairs, and a limited surface area, all of which significantly diminish its photocatalytic efficiency. To address these shortcomings, a series of novel copper-doped titania supported on Technische Universiteit Delft-Crystalline (TUD-C), denoted as xCu-TiO2/TUD-C (x = 0.1–1.0 mol%), were synthesized. The fabrication of these materials was achieved through a multistep process, involving sol-gel synthesis, hydrothermal treatment, wet impregnation, and calcination. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis confirmed that the TiO2 component crystallized in the anatase phase. Additionally, PXRD verified that the TUD-C support retained the Modernite Framework Inverted (MFI) zeolitic structure, along with a high specific surface area ranging between 270 and 321 m²/g. The successful incorporation of Cu-doped TiO2 onto the TUD-C support was validated through energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) elemental analysis. Furthermore, diffuse reflectance ultraviolet-visible (DRUV-Vis) spectroscopy revealed a noticeable reduction in band gap energies for the 0.1, 0.5, and 0.7 mol% Cu-TiO2/TUD-C samples, which exhibited values of 2.93 eV, 3.06 eV, and 2.77 eV, respectively, lower than that of undoped TiO2 (3.29 eV). These findings underscore the promising potential of the synthesized Cu-TiO2/TUD-C materials as efficient visible-light-responsive photocatalysts for the degradation of various organic contaminants.