Choline Chloride Assisted Synthesis of N and Metal Codoped TiO2 and their Photocatalytic Activity under Visible Light

A few nanocrystalline N,metal codoped TiO2 (metal = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) have been synthesized by a simple sol-gel method using choline chloride which is biodegradable, low cost, nontoxic ionic salt both as a structure directing agent and source of nitrogen. The prepared samples were well characterized by XRD, HRTEM, FTIR, DRS, EDX, XPS and BET techniques. The photocatalytic activity of all synthesized N, metal codoped TiO2 has been carried out for the degradation of Reactive Black 5 dye under visible light irradiation and among them, N, Fe codoped TiO2 was found to be the best for the degradation of Reactive Black 5 dye. The effect of incorporated metals on the photocatalytic activity of the various modified TiO2 has been discussed in detail based on the mechanism involved in the degradation of dye and their physico-chemical properties which includes surface area, particle size, defect sites, phase, band gap and electron-hole recombination effect.