PHOTOCATALYTIC PROPERTIES OF Cr DOPED TiO2–SiO2 NANOSTRUCTURE THIN FILM

• Main Authors: Akbar Eshaghi, Ameneh Eshaghi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague 2012-07-01
• Series: Ceramics-Silikáty
• Subjects: Sol-gel; Thin film; TiO2; doping; Photocatalysis
• Online Access: http://www.ceramics-silikaty.cz/2012/pdf/2012_02_135.pdf

Cr doped TiO2–SiO2 nanostructure thin film on glass substrates was prepared by a sol-gel dip coating method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis spectrophotometer were used to characterize the structural, chemical and optical properties of the thin film. The XRD showed that thin films contain only anatase phase. FE-SEM images illustrated that anatase average crystallite size in the pure TiO2 and Cr doped TiO2–SiO2 thin films are 15 nm and 10 nm, respectively. XPS spectra confirmed the presence of Cr3+ in the thin film. UV-vis absorption spectra indicated that absorption edge in Cr doped TiO2–SiO2 thin film shifted to the visible light region. The photocatalytic results pointed that Cr doping in TiO2–SiO2 improved decoloring rate of methyl orange in comparison to pure TiO2 thin film.