Enhancement of photodegradation of Ce, N, and P tri-doped TiO2/AC by microwave radiation with visible light response for naphthalene

This study focused on the microwave-assisted one-step synthesis and evaluation of visible light-sensitized Ce, N, and P tri-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon (TiO2/AC) photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of naphthalene. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of the samples showed the presence of both Ce3+ and Ce4+ oxidation states. A red shift of the absorption edge in the UV-visible spectra was observed when Ce, N, or P was doped in the band gap of TiO2. Ce, N, and P tridoped TiO2/AC exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity (97.9%) and rate constant under visible-light irradiation. The photocatalyst could be applied in environmental purification as indicated by its excellent performance. The possible synergetic mechanism for the photodegradation was also discussed. This study provides an effective strategy for synthesizing novel high-performance TiO2 nanocomposite photocatalyst to degrade naphthalene. (C) 2016 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.