Novel high potential visible-light-active photocatalyst of CNT/Mo, S-codoped TiO2 hetero-nanostructure

The current study deals with synthesize of novel nanophotocatalysts of CNT/Mo,S-codoped TiO2 by reacting between titanium isopropoxide (Ti(C3H7)(4)) and CNT in aqueous ammonia and subsequent calcining of hydrolysis of the products. The prepared catalysts were characterized by N-2 adsorption-desorption measurements, XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, FT-IR, and UV-vis DRS spectroscopy. SEM and TEM images exhibited uniform coverage of CNT with anatase TiO2 nanoclusters. It was also demonstrated that the presence of S and Mo within the TiO2 acts as electrons traps and prevents the charge recombination and also enables the TiO2 photocatalyst to be active in visible-light region. Moreover, the CNT/Mo,S-doped TiO2 nanohybrids has been proven to has a excellent photocatalytic performance in photodecomposition of Congored (CR), at which the rate of decomposition reaches 100% in only 20 and 30 min under UV and visible-light irradiation, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was ascribed to the synergetic effects of excellent electrical property of CNT and metal-non-metal codoping. Finally, which to best of our knowledge is done for the first time, we have demonstrated that Mo- and S-doped TiO2 decorated over CNT, or CNT/Mo,S-codoped TiO2, may have high potential applications in photocatalysis and environmental protection with superior catalytic activity under visible-light illumination. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.