Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue under UV Light Irradiation on Prepared Carbonaceous TiO(2)

This study involves the investigation of altering the photocatalytic activity of TiO(2) using composite materials. Three different forms of modified TiO(2), namely, TiO(2)/activated carbon (AC), TiO(2)/carbon (C), and TiO(2)/PANi, were compared. The TiO(2)/carbon composite was obtained by pyrolysis of TiO(2)/PANi prepared by in situ polymerization method, while the TiO(2)/activated carbon (TiO(2)/AC) was obtained after treating TiO(2)/carbon with 1.0 M KOH solution, followed by calcination at a temperature of 450°C. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG-DTA), Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET), and UV-Vis spectroscopy were used to characterize and evaluate the prepared samples. The specific surface area was determined to be in the following order: TiO(2)/AC > TiO(2)/C > TiO(2)/PANi > TiO(2) (179 > 134 > 54 > 9 m(2) g(−1)). The evaluation of photocatalytic performance for the degradation of methylene blue under UV light irradiation was also of the same order, with 98 > 84.7 > 69% conversion rate, which is likely to be attributed to the porosity and synergistic effect in the prepared samples.