PHOTOCATALYTIC PROPERTIES OF Cr DOPED TiO2-SiO2 NANOSTRUCTURE THIN FILM

Cr doped TiO2-SiO2 nanostructure thin film on glass substrates was prepared by a so/-gel dip coating method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis spectrophotometer were used to characterize the structural, chemical and optical properties of the thin film. The XRD showed that thin films contain only anatase phase. FE-SEM images illustrated that anatase average crystallite size in the pure TiO2 and Cr doped TiO2-SiO2 thin films are 15 nm and 10 nm, respectively. XPS spectra confirmed the presence of Cr3+ in the thin film. UV-vis absorption spectra indicated that absorption edge in Cr doped TiO2-SiO2 thin film shifted to the visible light region. The photocatalytic results pointed that Cr doping in TiO2-SiO2 improved decoloring rate of methyl orange in comparison to pure TiO2 thin film.