One step synthesis and characterization of copper doped sulfated titania and its enhanced photocatalytic activity in visible light by degradation of methyl orange

This paper reports on the synthesis of copper doped sulfated titania nano-crystalline powders with varying (2.0%-10.0%, by mass) by single step sol gel method. The synthesized photo catalyst has been characterized by employing various techniques like X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Ultraviolet-Visible Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning ElectronMicroscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Studies (FT-IR), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Fromthe XRD and TEMresults, all the sampleswere reported in anatase phasewith reduction in particle size in the range of 7 to 12 nm. SEMindicated the change inmorphology of the particles. The presence of copper in titania lattice was evidenced by XPS. From UV-Vis DRS and FT-IR studies indicated that prominent absorption shift is observed towards visible region (red shift), the entry of Cu²⁺ into TiO₂ lattice as a substitutional dopant and SO₄^2- ions were covalently bonded with Ti⁴⁺ on the surface of the copper doped titania respectively.
The photocatalytic activity studies were investigated by consideringmethyl orange (MO) as dye pollutant in the presence of the visible light. The effect of various parameters like effect of dosage of the catalyst, dopant concentration, pH of the solution, and concentration of the dye was studied in detail.