Photodegradation of aqueous solution of benzene and phenol using nitrogen doped TiO2 supported on silica gel

Abstract

The photocatalytic decomposition of benzene and phenol was carried out on TiO2N/SiO2 catalysts. TiO2 supported on SiO2 was synthesized using TiCl4 and silica gel as raw materials. In the process of deposition, the samples were modified with urea and ammonia for introducing nitrogen atoms into the matrix TiO2. The effect of annealing temperature was investigated. According to IR spectroscopy, the nitrogen doped TiO2/SiO2 consisted of nitrogen atoms. The band gaps of nitrogen doped TiO2 and pure TiO2(P-25) were estimated from UV-Vis spectroscopy data to be 2.7 and 3.3 eV, respectively. From the comparison of photocatalytic activity of TiO2N/SiO2 samples prepared by different annealing temperature, it was found that sample annealed at 500°C was the most active.