Synthesis of Nanostructured Copper-doped Titania and Its Properties

Nanostructured pure-TiO2 and Cu3%-TiO2 were succesfully synthesized via co-precipitation method. TheX-ray diffraction (XRD) result proves that the synthesized sample were predominantly in anatase phase with size in the range of 8 similar to 16 nm, which are in good aggrement with the transimission electron microscopy data. Owing to doping of copper, not only did the thermal stability of the TiO2 decrease, but also a significant decrease in its particle size and a shift of the adsorption edge to a higher wavelength region appear. The activity of both pure-TiO2 and Cu3%-doped TiO2 was tested to study their ability to decolorize congo red (CR) dye in aqueous solution. We observed that the CR dye was decolorized faster by Cu3%-TiO2 than pure-TiO2. Results of this study demonstrate a potential application of the synthesized sample for decolorizing dye pollutants from aqueous waste.