Effect of Ag-N Co-Doping in Nanosize TiO2 on Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange Dye

Synergetically modified nanosize TiO₂ semiconductor heterogeneous photocatalyst powder has been synthesized from TiCl₄ precursor for producing efficient photocatalyst that may work under visible radiation. The crystallite phase and size of the as-synthesized photo-catalyst were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. As-synthesized TiO₂ was found to be nano-crystalline anatase. The absorption edge of the photo-catalyst was evaluated from the UV/ Visible diffuse absorbance spectra. The band gap energies (E_bg) of undoped-, Ag-doped-, Ndoped- and Ag-N co-doped TiO₂ semiconductor photo-catalysts were found to be 3.14, 3.02, 2.56 and 2.45 eV, respectively. Co-doping of Ag and N in TiO₂ has shown synergetic effect towards photo-catalytic degradation of methyl orange in aqueous solutions. Using Ag-N co-doped TiO₂ photo-catalyst, degradation of methyl orange under UV and visible irradiations were 79.1% and 73.5%, respectively.