Enhanced photocatalytic activity of TiO2-NiO heterojunctions supported on alumina for malachite green degradation

We report that photocatalytic degradation of malachite green using UV light was studied by TiO2-NiO heterojunctions supported with alumina. In this work, sonochemical synthesis was implemented for the catalyst preparation. The prepared composites were well characterized using XRD, DRS, BET, SEM and PL. The objective of present study is to understand the improvement in photocatalytic activity by the dispersion of TiO2-NiO heterojunctions over alumina which possesses a high specific surface area. The composition of TiO2 was varied to find the optimum composition for achieving high photocatalytic activity in TiO2-NiO heterojunctions as well as TiO2-NiO heterojunctions supported by alumina. The optimum composition of TiO2 of 37 wt% (S2) have shown high catalytic activity in TiO2-NiO heterojunctions. Whereas 20 wt% of TiO2 loading in TiO2-NiO heterojunctions supported by alumina (C2) showed high catalytic performance than all other catalysts. Both S2 and C2 showed significant degradation of malachite green dye in comparison with commercial TiO2 (P25).

Automated summary

This study investigates the photocatalytic degradation of malachite green using UV light with TiO2-NiO heterojunctions supported by alumina. The dispersion of TiO2-NiO heterojunctions over alumina improves the photocatalytic activity significantly. The optimum compositions for achieving high catalytic activity are determined for both TiO2-NiO heterojunctions and alumina-supported TiO2-NiO heterojunctions. The results show that both S2 and C2 exhibit significant degradation of malachite green dye.