Synthesis and Characterization of Cu-doped TiO2/Bi2O3 Photocatalyst for Degradation of Direct Red 16 Dye under Visible Light Irradiation

فاقد چكيده فارسي

This paper reports on synthesis and characterization of Cu-doped TiO2/Bi2O3 photocatalysts based on the sol-gel technology for removal of Direct Red 16 dye. Initially the optimum ranges of Cu/Ti and Bi2O3/TiO2 compounds on removal of the dye pollution were experimentally obtained 2, 4, and 6 wt.% for Cu/Ti ratio and 8, 9 and 10 wt.% for Bi2O3/TiO2 ratio. Then, a set of Bi2O3/TiO2-Cu photocatalysts with various ingredients was synthesised based on RSM. Photocatalytic degradation reactions of the dye were performed in a batch reactor under visible light. The performed experiments on removal of the pollution showed that the produced photocatalyst with 2 wt.% Cu/Ti and 8 wt.% Bi2O3/TiO2 had the maximum removal efficiency of 99%. Using the quadratic model of RSM, the optimum contents of the photocatalyst was 2.19 wt.% Cu/Ti and 8.06 wt.% Bi2O3/TiO2 with removal efficiency of 99.89% while the efficiency of the experiments was 99.45% by application of this synthesized photocatalyst