Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange with W-doped TiO2 synthesized by a hydrothermal method

Nanosized W-doped TiO2 photocatalysts were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method, and characterized by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and BET surface area analyzer. The photocatalytic activity of undoped TiO2 and W-doped TiO2 photocatalysts was evaluated by the photocatalytic oxidation degradation of methyl orange in aqueous solution. The results show that the photocatalytic activity of the W-doped TiO2 photocatalyst is much higher than that of undoped TiO2, and the optimum percentage of W doped is 2.0 mol%. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the doped photocatalyst may be attributed to the increase in the charge separation efficiency and the presence of surface acidity.