Synergistic effects of C-Cr codoping in TiO2 and enhanced sonocatalytic activity under ultrasonic irradiation

C and Cr co-doped TiO2 (C-Cr-TiO2) sonocatalyst were synthesized by doping TiO2 with glucose and CrCl3 in a sol-gel method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron emission spectroscopy (XPS). C and Cr were detected by XPS analysis. The influence of dopants on the properties and sono-catalytic activity of TiO2 was studied. The sonodegradation products of methylene blue were analyzed by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The presence of C-Cr-TiO2 catalysts substantially enhanced the sonocatalytic degradation of MB in aqueous suspensions. The possible sonocatalytic mechanisms were also discussed. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.