Assessing the Photo Catalytic Activity of Rutile Ore from the Middle Belt Region of Nigeria on the Degradation of Phenol in Water

The photocatalytic actitvity of Natural rutile collected from Bauchi State in the Middle belt region of Nigeria was assessed using Phenol as probe molecule with UV irradiation. The rutile, which contains substituting metal ions with Fe 3+ as the predominant, was found to exhibit good photoactivity in UV light. The result showed that 51.7% of Phenol was photodegraded after 120min in UV light irradiation. Compared with P25 TiO2 degrading 71.8% of phenol, the effect of reusability of the rutile was also investigated, however under recycle, rutile surface was prone to oxidation of the substituting elements which led to relatively rapid deactivation of the ore. It was demonstrated that P25 was stable. The XRD, BET, SEM, DRS UV-Vis spectra and the TEM of the Nigeria rutile samples showed that the presence of trace element affects the photocatalytic properties of the sample.