Synthesis and characterization of V-C60/TiO2 photocatalysts designed for degradation of methylene blue

C-60/TiO2 and V-C-60/TiO2 composite photocatalysts were prepared with titanium (IV) n-butoxide (TNB) by a sol-gel method. Fullerene had absorptive and semiconducting properties, and vanadium could enhance the photogenerated electron transfer. The V-C-60/TiO2 composite shows a good photo-degradation activity. XRD patterns of the composites showed that the C-60/TiO2 composite contained a mixture of anatase and rutile phase forms while the V-C-60/TiO2 composite contained a typical single and clear anatase phase. The surface properties seen by SEM and FE-SEM presenta characterization of the texture on C-60/TiO2 and V-C-60/TiO2 composites and showed a homogenous composition in the particles for the titanium sources used. The EDX spectra for the elemental identification showed the presence of C and Ti with strong V peaks for the V-C-60/TiO2 composite. From the photocatalytic results, the excellent activity of the C-60/TiO2 and V-C-60/TiO2 composites for degradation of methyrene blue under UV irradiation could be attributed to both the effects between photocatalysis of the supported TiO2 and charge transfer of the fullerene, and the introduction of vanadium to enhance the photogenerated electrons transfer. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. All rights reserved.