IMPROVED PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF SURFACE MODIFIED TiO2 WITH PLATINUM

The present article describes the synthesis of platinized TiO2 nanocomposite and its photocatalytic activity. The surface modification of the catalyst was carried out by platinum metals adopting a modified photo-deposition method. The effect of platinum loadings, such as 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 wt% on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 has been studied. The study showed that the activity of TiO2 can be significantly enhanced by depositing an optimum concentration of platinum metals that help to prevent the electron hole-pair recombination which is a major energy wasting step in photocatalysis. The photocatalytic effciency of various samples was tested by studying the photo-oxidation of a dye namely Methyl Orange as probe reaction.