High performance sulfur, nitrogen and carbon doped mesoporous anatase-brookite TiO2 photocatalyst for the removal of microcystin-LR under visible light irradiation

Carbon, nitrogen and sulfur (C, N and S) doped mesoporous anatase-brookite nano-heterojunction titania photocatalysts have been synthesized through a simple sal-gel method in the presence of triblock copolymer Pluronic P123. XRD and Raman spectra revealed the formation of anatase and brookite mixed phases. XPS spectra indicated the presence of C, N and S dopants. The TEM images demonstrated the formation of almost monodisperse titania nanoparticles with particle sizes of approximately 10 nm. N-2 isotherm measurements confirmed that both doped and undoped titania anatase-brookite materials have mesoporous structure. The photocatalytic degradation of the cyanotoxin microcystin-LR (MC-LR) has been investigated using these novel nanomaterials under visible light illumination. The photocatalytic efficiency of the mesoporous titania anatase-brookite photocatalyst dramatically increased with the addition of the C, N and S non-metal, achieving complete degradation (similar to 100%) of MC-LR. The results demonstrate the advantages of the synthetic approach and the great potential of the visible light activated C, N, and S doped titania photocatalysts for the treatment of organic micropollutants in contaminated waters under visible light. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.