Degradation of paraquat under visible light over fullerene modified V-TiO2

V-TiO2 and C-60/V-TiO2 photocatalysts were synthesized by titanium(IV) isopropoxide using a chelation sol-gel and impregnation method. All catalysts were calcined at 450 A degrees C for 5 h, which resulted in them being in the anatase phase. The catalysts were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), UV-vis diffuse reflectance (UV-DR) spectra, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analyses, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and zeta potential, and tested for their paraquat photodegradation ability under visible light. An insignificant decrease in surface area was observed in the modified catalysts. The modified photocatalysts exhibited higher visible light responses, ranking them as follows: 1C(60)/1 V-TiO2 > 1 V-TiO2 > TiO2 (composition in wt%). 1wt% C-60/1wt% V-TiO2 performed higher activity than 1wt% V-TiO2. The kinetics of paraquat photocatalytic degradation was expressed by the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) model with a rate constant of 0.171 mg/L min(-1).