Novel visible light-driven photocatalyst of mesoporous tud-1 supported chromium oxide doped titania for phenol photodegradation

Novel visible light driven mesoporous photocatalysts of Technische Universiteit Delft-1 (TUD-1) supported 1 mol% Cr oxide doped TiO2 (Cr-TiO2) were synthesized. Low angle XRD and FTIR results confirmed the amorphous and mesoporous silicate framework of TUD-1 in the materials. The mesostructure was further confirmed via N2 adsorption-desorption analysis showing type IV isotherm with narrow average pore size distribution (2.5 nm) and high surface area (864 m2/g). TEM analysis results indicated the attainment of nanoparticles and the porous channels in the synthesized materials. An increase in band-gap energy was observed after loading of Cr-TiO2 into TUD-1. As compared to the unsupported Cr-doped TiO2, all the TUD-1 supported Cr-doped TiO2 photocatalysts showed higher photocatalytic activity for phenol degradation under visible light irradiation. Amongst, sample Cr oxide doped TiO2 supported on TUD-1 with molar ratio Si/Ti = 30 exhibited the highest photodegradation of phenol (82%). The phenol photodegradation followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm with first order kinetics