To overcome the drawback of poor solar light utilization brought about by the narrow photoresponse range of TiO2, a silver and sulfur co-doped TiO2 was synthesized. Using the prepared catalyst, solar photocatalytic degradation of 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) by a TiO2-based catalyst was studied for the first time. Effects of the co-doping on the structural, optical and morphological properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were investigated by different characterization methods: X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption–desorption measurements, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Solar experiments showed that the co-doping with silver and sulfur significantly increased the photocatalytic activity. In various initial concentrations of 2-NP more than 99% of the contaminant was decomposed by Ag-S/TiO2 in less than 150 minutes, while the degradation efficiency was much less in the presence of bare TiO2. Kinetic studies suggested that solar photocatalytic degradation of 2-NP is consistent with the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model. The rate constant of the reaction and adsorption constant of the modified photocatalyst were found to be 2.4 and 4.1 times larger than that of bare TiO2, respectively.
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Research Article|April 27 2015
Photocatalytic removal of 2-nitrophenol using silver and sulfur co-doped TiO2 under natural solar light
Mehrzad Feilizadeh
Mehrzad Feilizadeh
1Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
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Amin Delparish
Amin Delparish
1Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
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S. Toufigh Bararpour
S. Toufigh Bararpour
1Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
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Hamed Abedini Najafabadi
Hamed Abedini Najafabadi
2Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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S. Mohammad Esmaeil Zakeri
S. Mohammad Esmaeil Zakeri
3Separation Processes Research Group, Department of Engineering, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran
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Manouchehr Vossoughi
Manouchehr Vossoughi
1Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran4Institute for Biotechnology and Environment, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
E-mail: vosoughi@sharif.edu
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Water Sci Technol (2015) 72 (3): 339-346.
Article history
Received:
February 19 2015
Accepted:
March 31 2015
Citation
Mehrzad Feilizadeh, Amin Delparish, S. Toufigh Bararpour, Hamed Abedini Najafabadi, S. Mohammad Esmaeil Zakeri, Manouchehr Vossoughi; Photocatalytic removal of 2-nitrophenol using silver and sulfur co-doped TiO2 under natural solar light. Water Sci Technol 1 August 2015; 72 (3): 339–346. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2015.180
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