Amir Payan - Department of Chemical Engineering, Abadan Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Abadan, Iran
Moslem Fattahi - Department of Chemical Engineering, Abadan Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Abadan, Iran
Ali Akbar Isari - Department of Chemical Engineering, Abadan Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Abadan, Iran

Copper and nitrogen co-doped TiO2 as heterogeneous photocatalysts via sol-gel method were successfully synthesized in this investigation. The as-synthesized catalysts were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), surface area measurements (BET and BJH), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The activities of the as-prepared TiO2 photocatalysts were examined for the degradation of 4-Chlorophenol (4-CP) aqueous solution under solar irradiation in a locally fabricated photoreactor. The effect of operating parameters including type of catalyst (pristine TiO2, N-doped, Cu-doped and N/Cu co-doped), initial 4-CP concentration (50-150 mg/L), catalyst dosages (1-3 g/L) and solution pH (4-10) on the activity of the photocatalysts were systematically investigated. The results show that amongst the TiO2 nanoparticles under optimum conditions (pH 4.0, catalyst loading of 2 g/L, initial 4-CP concentration of 50 mg/L and Time of 8 h) N/Cu co-doped exhibits much higher photocatalytic degradation efficiency (84%) as compared with that of Cu-doped (77%), N-doped (42%), and pristine TiO2 (21%).

N/Cu TiO2, Photocatalyst, Solar Irradiation, Co-Doped