Photocatalytic decolourization of basic green dye by pure and Fe, Co doped TiO2 under daylight illumination

In the present study, a pure TiO2 photocatalyst, Fe and Co doped photocatalyst was prepared via sol-gel method. The prepared photocatalysts were tested for its photocatalytic activity by decolorizing a basic dye namely malachite green dye under sunlight. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and UV-Visible spectroscopy. From the decolourizing study, it was observed that Fe-doped TiO2 shown highest photocatalytic activity among the other two with 98% in 3 h. The Kinetics of dye decolourization was rationalized by a modified Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. The overall rate constants (k) for dye decolourization was observed in the order of 0.8 h(-1) for Fe-doped 0.67 h(-1) for Co-doped and 031 h(-1) for pure TiO2. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.