Preparation and characterization of carbon nanoparticles loaded TiO2 and its catalytic activity driven by natural sunlight

Carbon nanoparticle loaded TiO2 (CNP-TiO2) was successfully synthesized by the sonochemical method. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, XPS, TEM, DRS, Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), CV and BET surface area measurements. XPS analysis reveals the presence of Carbon nanoparticles in CNP-TiO2. A decrease of photoluminescence intensity of CNP-TiO2 when compared to TiO2 indicates the suppression of electron-hole recombination by the loaded carbon nano-particles. The photocatalytic activity of CNP-TiO2 for degradation of Reactive Red 120 using solar light is higher than TiO2-P25 and prepared TiO2. A dual mechanism involving electron-hole separation by CNP and dye sensitization is proposed for the degradation. CNP-TiO2 is also found to be stable and reusable. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.