Sol-Gel Hydrothermal Synthesis and Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation Performance of Fe/N Codoped TiO2 Catalysts
1
Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Hungkuang University, Taichung 43302, Taiwan
2
Hsuteng Consulting International Co., Ltd. Taichung 40764, Taiwan
3
Institute of Environment Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10643, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Materials 2018, 11(6), 939; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11060939
Received: 12 April 2018 / Revised: 20 May 2018 / Accepted: 30 May 2018 / Published: 3 June 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Photoactive Materials)
Using Ti(OC4H9)4 as a precursor, Fe(NO3)3⋅9H2O as the source of iron, and NH4NO3 as the source of nitrogen, an Fe/N codoped TiO2 catalyst was prepared using a sol-gel hydrothermal method. The as-prepared powders were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry. Fe and N codoping resulted in decreased crystallite size and increased specific surface area. Results of the photocatalytic degradation of acid orange 7 (AO7) in a continuous-flow fluidized-bed reactor indicated that the maximum decolorization (more than 90%) of AO7 occurred with the Fe/N-TiO2 catalyst (dosage of 20 g/L) when a combination of visible light irradiation for 10 h HRT (hydraulic retention time), and a heterogeneous system was used. The AO7 degradation efficiency was considerably improved by increasing the hydraulic retention time from 2.5 to 10 h or by reducing the initial AO7 concentration from 300 to 100 mg/L. The reaction rate increased with the light intensity and the maximum value occurred at 35 mW/cm2; moreover, the efficiency of the AO7 degradation increased when the pH decreased with maximum efficiency at pH 3.
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Keywords:
Fe/N-TiO2; sol-gel; hydrothermal; photocatalytic; visible-light
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MDPI and ACS Style
Cheng, H.-H.; Chen, S.-S.; Yang, S.-Y.; Liu, H.-M.; Lin, K.-S. Sol-Gel Hydrothermal Synthesis and Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation Performance of Fe/N Codoped TiO2 Catalysts. Materials 2018, 11, 939.
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