Preparation and characterization of carbon covered TiO2 using sucrose for solar photodegradation

Various attempts have been made to capture visible light of solar energy for TiO2 activation in photocatalytic degradation and other applications. In this present work we made an attempt on the synthesis and characterization of anatase TiO2 with carbon for gaining importance for this purpose. Carbon covered TiO2 photocatalyst was successfully prepared by an in situ process employing sucrose as carbon source and H2SO4 as dehydrating agent. The prepared materials were thermally post treated at 723 K. The resulting C-covered TiO2 catalyst materials were characterized by SEM, EDX, FT-IR, XRD, UV-DRS and XPS. The C-covered samples show UV shift to longer region compared to pristine TiO2. The materials were tested for its solar light induced degradation of methylene blue dye and found to be active. The prepared C-covered titania catalysts can be used for degradation of dyes and other pollutants using solar light. (C) 2008 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.