Hydrothermal Synthesis and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of TiO\(_{2}\)-Fe@CNTs Nanocomposite for Methylene Blue Degradation under Visible Light Irradiation

TiO 2 is one of the most attractive metal oxides because of the excellent chemical and photocatalytic properties. However, a problem in the application of TiO 2 is the large band gap energy of 3.2 eV, corresponding to its photocatalytic activity under UV-light irradiation of wavelengths <387 nm. In this work, TiO 2 nanoparticles doped with iron were grown on the surface of functionalized carbon nanotubes (TiO 2 -Fe@CNTs) to expand the photoabsorbance of the nanocomposite materials in the visible light region and improve their photocatalytic activity. TiO 2 -Fe@CNTs nanocomposite materials were synthesized by hydrothermal route in Teflon-sealed autoclave at 180 o C for 10h. The FE-SEM and X-Ray diffraction measurements were taken for morphology and structural analysis of TiO 2 nanoparticles doped with Fe coating on CNTs. The effects of the iron and CNTs on the enhanced photocatalytic activity for methylene blue degradation under AM 1.5 illumination of 100 mW.cm −2 were investigated.