Environmentally effective photocatalyst CoO-TiO2 synthesized by thermal precipitation of Co in amorphous TiO2

We report the enhanced photocatalytic activity of TiO2 by the surface decoration of CoO nanoparticles to degrade paraoxon. The CoO nanoparticles are precipitated in situ during heat treatments of Co doped amorphous TiO2 and enhance the degradation by 11-24 times that of pure TiO2 or Rh2O3-TiO2 or the oxide nanoparticles under white light (natural sunlight and fluorescence light). The enhanced activity is a combined result of visible light absorption by CoO and effective electron-hole separation at the CoO-TiO2 interfaces. Published by Elsevier B.V.