The layered double hydroxide route to Bi-Zn co-doped TiO₂ with high photocatalytic activity under visible light

In this work, a co-doped Bi-Zn-TiO₂ photocatalist is synthesized by an original synthesis route of layered double hydroxide followed by heat treatment at 670 °C. After characterization the photocatalyst efficiency is estimated by the photo-discoloration of an anionic dye (indigo carmine) under visible light and compare to TiO₂-P25 as reference material. In this new photocatalyst, anatase and ZnO wurtzite are the only identified crystalline phase, rutile and Bi₂O₃ being undetected. Moreover, the binding energy of Bi determined (XPS analysis) is different from the one of Bi in Bi₂O₃. Compared to TiO₂-P25, the absorption is red shifted (UV-vis DRS) and the Bi-Zn-TiO₂ photocatalyst showed sorption capacity toward indigo carmine higher than that TiO₂-P25. The kinetics of the photo-discoloration is faster with Bi-Zn-TiO₂ than with TiO₂-P25. Indeed, a complete discoloration is obtained after 70 min and 120 min in the presence of Bi-Zn-TiO₂ and TiO₂-P25 respectively. The identification of the responsible species on photo-discoloration was carried out in the presence of different scavengers. The study showed that the first responsible is h(+) specie with a moderate contribution of superoxide anion radical and a minor contribution of the hydroxyl radical. The material showed high stability after five uses with the same rate of photo-discoloration.