Synthesis and characterization of C, N, S and Fe modified TiO₂ nanophotocatalyst: Efficiency on the degradation of methyl orange and levafix blue

TiO₂ P25 photocatalyst is used as a reference for the study of organic molecules photodegradation. The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of synthesized doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles to remove textile dyes, Methyl orange and Levafix blue dyes, from aqueous solutions by photocatalysis process. Doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles were successfully prepared by a modified sol-gel method. The results reveal that all the samples consist of crystalline anatase with mesoporous structures. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) confirmed that the photocatalysts were in nanometer size with a diameter of about 9 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the photocatalysts were predominantly in well-crystallized anatase phase; UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscope (UV-Vis DRS) presents a shift absorption from the UV region into the visible-light region. Surface area analyzer was used to characterize the synthesized catalyst. Synthesized powders were used for the degradation of methyl orange and levafix blue dyes in aqueous solution under visible light. It was found that doped TiO₂ increases methyl orange and levafix blue photodegradation in comparison with TiO₂ P25.