Modified Titania Impact on Photocatalytic Efficiency of Bmim [Cl]

Abstract

Titania has been one of the promising alternatives in treating environmental pollution issues and was considered in various applications due to its flexible behaviour. Many studies have been conducted to test its phase-changing properties and adaptive ability such as calcination process, and metal and nonmetal modification using mono-doped or co-doped elements. In the present study, the photocatalyst was developed from embedment with activated carbon (AC) followed by co-doping of Cu²⁺ and Fe³⁺ metal ions. The photocatalyst was characterized by XRD, BET and FESEM. The synthesized photocatalyst was tested in the photocatalytic degradation system for ionic liquid (IL) at the optimized parameters which includes solution pH = 6, [photocatalyst] = 1 g/L and [H₂O₂] = 0.75 ml/L. The co-doped product exhibited a smaller crystalline sizes as compared to bare TiO₂. In addition, copper and iron dopants are well dispersed into the TiO₂ lattice as no additional phases were detected. Maximum degradation of 77% of 0.11mM IL was recorded in the Cu:Fe-TiO₂/AC system after 240 min of visible light irradiation. The system’s efficiency in terms of tested photocatalysts is in the order of P25 < TiO₂ < TiO₂/AC < Cu:Fe-TiO₂/AC, respectively.