Effects of Ag-doped NiTiO3 on photoreduction of methylene blue under UV and visible light irradiation

Pure and Ag-doped NiTiO3 powders were prepared by the modified Pechini Method. The effects of Ag doping on NiTiO3 were investigated by means of XRD, SEM. TEM, BET and DRS. The photocatalytic properties were analyzed by spectrophotometrically estimating molar concentration variation of methylene blue which is photo-reduced under UV and visible light irradiation in an MB aqueous solution according to the Beer-Lambert Law. It is found that silver migrates from the volume of NiTiO3 to deposit on the surface and also promotes the crystallinity of NiTiO3 structure. The precipitated Ag nanoparticles acts as an electron-hole separation center so that Ag-NiTiO3 has better ability for the photoreduction of MB with the increasing silver concentration. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.