Photocatalytic degradation of Congo red dye using Fe-doped TiO2 nanocatalysts

Fe-doped TiO2 (2, 5, 10, 15 and 20% wt. of Fe) photocatalysts have been synthesized by sol-gel method using titanium aquacomplex precursor. The structure and morphology have been characterized by XRD, BET, SEM, and EDS analyses, Mossbauer and IR spectroscopies. XRD analysis confirmed the anatase structure. The introduction of ferric ions into the titania structure causes its amorphization. The crystallite sizes of obtained samples are around 3 nm. Fe-doped TiO2 samples possess mesoporous structure and high specific surface area (from 274 m2g-1 for 5Fe-TiO2 to 416.4 m2g-1 for 20Fe-TiO2). Mossbauer spectroscopy data confirms the incorporation of Fe3+ ions in the anatase structure. Photocatalytic degradation of Congo red dye using Fe-doped TiO2 photocatalysts was studied under the UV-A light. Optimized conditions for photocatalytic degradation of CR in the presence of hydrogen peroxide are obtained. It was found that the 2Fe-TiO2 sample in the presence of 20 mM H2O2 solution showed highest efficiency in dye photodegradation (99.4%) under UV-A light. The photodegradation kinetics was analyzed using a smartphone and fits well with first-order kinetics model.