Photocatalytic Activity of Undoped, Cu-, N-, and (Cu, N) Co-Doped TiO2 Nanomaterials Synthesized via Sol-Gel Method

Titanium dioxide (TiO2), Cu-doped TiO2, N-doped TiO2 and Cu-N co-doped TiO2 nanomaterials were successfully synthesized using sol-gel method and investigated for their structural, morphological, compositional and photocatalytic activity. The synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). XRD analysis confirmed the crystalline nature of the prepared TiO2-based nanoparticles and revealed the formation of mixed phase of TiO2 crystalline. The average crystallite size of co-doped nanomaterial, estimated from the XRD data using the Scherrer equation was approximately 9.25 nm. SEM analysis showed the formation of nanosized particles with relatively homogeneous morphology, although some degree of particle agglomeration was observed. EDX analysis confirmed the presence of the titanium and oxygen in the prepared TiO2 samples and verified the purity of the synthesized materials. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared samples was evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV irradiation. Among the investigated materials, the pristine TiO2 exhibited highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency (91.30%) under 30 min UV light irradiation.