Highly active visible-light-driven photo-electrocatalytic process in TiO2/Ti electrode by Te doping

The concern over increasing environmental contamination by dye agents from textile industries, such as Reactive yellow 105, requires a special catalyst that can rapidly and effectively eradicate the dye chemical. Here, we demonstrate a new design of catalyst, i.e., Te doped TiO2/Ti composite electrode, that promotes highly active charge transfer with the Reactive yellow 105 dye for efficient photoelectrocatalytic degradation under visible light irradiations. Our results show that the new photocatalyst effectively degrades up to 90% of 0.5 ppm of the Reactive yellow 105 dye under visible light irradiation within 60 min, which is equivalent to the degradation rate constant of 0.0611 M-1 min(-1). It is impressively higher than the pristine photocatalyst (TiO2/Ti) of which it only degrades 70 and 65% of dye compound under UV and Vis irradiation respectively or equivalent to degradation kinetic rate as low as 0.037 and 0.0361 M-1 min(-1), respectively. The degradation of dye compound is enhanced to 100% when the new catalyst is applied in photoelectrocatalytic degradation process under visible light irradiation or approximately 95% degradation under UV light irradiation. The Te doped TiO2/Ti photoelectrocatalyst can be a new platform for rapid Reactive yellow 105 dye contamination in the environment. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

In this study, a new catalyst design was demonstrated to efficiently degrade Reactive yellow 105 dye through photoelectrocatalytic degradation under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the new photocatalyst exhibited significantly higher degradation rate than the pristine photocatalyst under both UV and visible light irradiation.