Synthesis of Cu Loaded TiO2 Nanoparticles for the Improved Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine B

Copper doped Titanium dioxide TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method using titanium tetraisopropoxide and copper sulfate as precursors. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Photo-luminesce spectroscopy (PL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). XRD analysis confirms the formation of anatase titanium dioxide and average particle size was 35 nm. Cu-TiO2 exhibits a shift in the absorption edge toward visible spectrum. The rate of recombination and transfer behavior of the photoexcited electron-hole pairs in the semiconductors was recorded by photoluminescence. From SEM spherical shaped nanoparticles was observed. Comparing with pure TiO2 nanoparticles, Cu doped TiO2 photocatalyst exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity under natural sunlight irradiation in the decomposition of rhodamine B aqueous solution. The maximum 97% of degradation efficiency of Rhodamine B was observed at 0.6% Cu-TiO2 within 180 min. The photocatalytic efficiency of Rhodamine B of Cu doped TiO2 nanoparticle was higher than the pure TiO2, which could be attributed to the small crystallinity intense light absorption in Sunlight and narrow bandgap energy of Copper.