Visible light enabled v and cr doped titania-silica aerogel photocatalyst

• Main Authors: Hamdan, Halimaton, Mohd. Muhid, Mohd. Nazlan, Lee, Siew Ling, Tan, Yin Yin
• Format: Article
• Published: Berkeley Electronic Press 2009
• Subjects: QD Chemistry
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/13187/; https://doi.org/10.2202/1542-6580.1985
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

A series of high surface area (~700 m2/g) nanostructured coupled semiconductor photocatalysts (NCSP) based on transition metals (M = Cr, V) doped titania-silica aerogel of various molar ratios of Ti:Si (1:25, 1:33 and 1:50) were synthesized via direct synthesis and wet impregnation methods. All samples reveal well-dispersed TiO2 with three different types of Ti coordination namely isolated Ti, non-isolated Ti and octahedrally coordinated Ti species. Cr and V (5 wt%)-titania silica aerogel under visible light irradiation reduced the bandgap energy of T25 to 2.9 eV. The photocatalytic activity of NCSP is 3 fold more active than photocatalyst supported on amorphous silica. Cr (5 wt%)-titania silica aerogel photocatalyst gives the highest conversion of styrene under both UV and visible light irradiation (55% and 47% respectively).