The effects of additive on properties of Fe doped TiO2 nanoparticles by modified sol-gel method

Abstract 0.3 wt% Fe doped TiO2 nanoparticles were fabricated by the modified sol-gel method using tetra-butyl titanate, HNO3, Fe(NO3)3·9H2O, absolute ethanol and additives, namely F-127 and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (K-30) as raw materials, respectively. The samples were characterized by TG-DTA, XRD, FTIR, UV–Vis, TEM, HRTEM, SAED, EDS and BET to explore the effects of additive type on the thermal effect, crystal structure, surface composition, energy band gap (Eg), and photocatalytic performance of samples calcined at different temperatures. Fe doped TiO2 nanoparticles prepared using F-127 had the inhibiting effect on the anatase to rutile phase transformation, however, K-30 acted as a promoter to facilitate this transformation. The photocatalytic efficiency of Fe doped TiO2 photocatalyst using F-127 and K-30 as additives exhibited higher photocatalytic degradation mass of methyl orange than the samples prepared using additive-free under irradiation of UV and visible light respectively, which was mainly resulted from the hydroxyl groups (OH−) absorbed on the grain surface, decreased Eg and the mixed crystal structure of anatase and rutile.