Preparation, Characterization, and Investigation of Photocatalytic Activity of TiO 2 /SiO 2 /Co Nanocomposite Using Additives

Titanium dioxide has been widely used for photo-catalytic and self-cleaning activities. In this study, TiO 2 /SiO 2 /Co nanocomposite was prepared by sol-gel method in the presence of Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP), and Hydroxyl Propyl Cellulose (HPC) as additives, and characterized by IR spectra, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Analytical X-Ray (EDAX), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) methods. The influence of metal doping and additives effect onto TiO 2 /SiO 2 on the structure and photo-catalytic behavior was evaluated. Moreover, Photo-catalytic activity was investigated in different conditions. The results revealed that the photo-catalytic activity of TiO 2 /SiO 2 doped with appropriate content of Cobalt in the presence of additives exceeded, and TiO 2 /SiO 2 /Co nanocomposite with HPC had the best photo-catalytic activity.