STRUCTURAL, OPTICAL AND PHOTOCATALYTIC STUDIES OF ANATASE-RUTILE MIXED-PHASE UNDOPED AND SILVER-DOPED TITANIUM DIOXIDE NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

Undoped and silver-doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles are prepared by the Sol-Gel process using Titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) as a precursor. The synthesized nanoparticles are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-VIS spectroscopy and photocatalytic studies. The powder X-ray diffraction characterization results showed that the thermal treatment at 500 ºC leads to the formation of anatase-rutile mixed phase TiO2 nanoparticles. The formation of TiO2 nanoparticles is also confirmed from the dominant FT-IR peaks observed below 650 cm-1. The UV-VIS spectroscopy shows that the silver-doping causes narrowing the optical band gap value of ~2.89 eV. Photocatalytic investigation shows that the silver-doping leads to higher degradation efficiency of 86.35%.