Synthesis of TiO2/MgO/SiO2 nanocomposites as a novel visible light driven photocatalyst for photodegradation of phenol

TiO2/MgO/SiO2 as a novel visible light active photocatalyst have been prepared by simple sol-gel method. The results indicated that the SiO2 and MgO coupling increased the titanium dioxide active surface, reinforcing its photocatalytic properties. The prepared samples were characterized by XRD, FT-IR and TEM analysis. XRD results showed that TiO2 and TiO2/MgO/SiO2 nanoparticles only contained anatase phase. The photocatalytic effect of the synthesized nanoparticles on phenol degradation was also studied. Experimental condition including pH, phenol concentration, irradiation time, and photocatalyst mass were optimized. Consequently, the UV/Vis spectrophotometry showed that the synthesized nanoparticles have an extraordinary photocatalytic activity for the destruction of phenol under visible light irradiation.

Keywords:

: photodegradation , phenol , nanocomposite , titanium dioxide