Photocatalytic decolorization of reactive red 198 dye by a TiO2-activated carbon nano-composite derived from the sol-gel method

In this research, a TiO2-activated carbon nano-composite was prepared by a sol-gel method and characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, FTIR, BET surface area, photoluminescence spectroscopy and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the nano-composite was evaluated through degradation of reactive red 198 (RR 198) under UV light, and was compared to unsupported TiO2. The XRD result indicated that the TiO2 nano-composite contained only anatase phase. The surface area of the TiO2 increased from 48 to 100 m(2)/g through the fabrication of the nano-composite. The photocatalytic results indicated that the RR 198 was decolorized around 42 and 38 % during a 210-min irradiation period in the presence of nano-composite and TiO2, respectively. It means that nano-composite enhanced the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 nano-particles. After 20 h of irradiation in the presence of the nano-composite, 97 % of RR 198 had degraded.