The effects of additive on properties of Fe doped TiO2 nanoparticles by modified sol-gel method

0.3 wt% Fe doped TiO2 nanoparticles were fabricated by the modified sol-gel method using tetra-butyl titanate, HNO3, Fe(NO3)(3)center dot 9H(2)O, absolute ethanol and additives, namely F-127 and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (K-30) as raw materials, respectively. The samples were characterized by TG-DTA, XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis, TEM, HRTEM, SAED, EDS and BET to explore the effects of additive type on the thermal effect, crystal structure, surface composition, energy band gap (E-g), and photocatalytic performance of samples calcined at different temperatures. Fe doped TiO2 nanoparticles prepared using F-127 had the inhibiting effect on the anatase to rutile phase transformation, however, K-30 acted as a promoter to facilitate this transformation. The photocatalytic efficiency of Fe doped TiO2 photocatalyst using F-127 and K-30 as additives exhibited higher photocatalytic degradation mass of methyl orange than the samples prepared using additive-free under irradiation of UV and visible light respectively, which was mainly resulted from the hydroxyl groups (OH-) absorbed on the grain surface, decreased E-g and the mixed crystal structure of anatase and rutile. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, 0.3 wt% Fe doped TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared using different types of additives, F-127 and K-30, and their effects on crystal structure and photocatalytic efficiency were investigated. It was found that F-127 inhibited the phase transformation, while K-30 promoted it, leading to differences in photocatalytic degradation under UV and visible light irradiation.