Environmentally effective photocatalyst CoO-TiO2 synthesized by thermal precipitation of Co in amorphous TiO2

Abstract We report the enhanced photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 by the surface decoration of CoO nanoparticles to degrade paraoxon. The CoO nanoparticles are precipitated in situ during heat treatments of Co doped amorphous TiO 2 and enhance the degradation by 11–24 times that of pure TiO 2 or Rh 2 O 3 –TiO 2 or the oxide nanoparticles under white light (natural sunlight and fluorescence light). The enhanced activity is a combined result of visible light absorption by CoO and effective electron-hole separation at the CoO–TiO 2 interfaces.