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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN MOLECULAR SCIENCE
GREEN CHEMISTRY FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Mohamed A. Barakat
Rajeev Kumar

Photocatalytic
Activity Enhancement
of Titanium Dioxide
Nanoparticles
Degradation of
Pollutants in
Wastewater

123
SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science

Green Chemistry for Sustainability

Series editor
Sanjay K. Sharma, Jaipur, India
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10045
Mohamed A. Barakat Rajeev Kumar
•

Photocatalytic Activity
Enhancement of Titanium
Dioxide Nanoparticles
Degradation of Pollutants in Wastewater

123
Mohamed A. Barakat Rajeev Kumar
Department of Environmental Sciences Department of Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Meteorology and Environment Faculty of Meteorology and Environment
King Abdulaziz University (KAU) King Abdulaziz University (KAU)
Jeddah Jeddah
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia

and

Central Metallurgical R&D Institute

Helwan, Cairo
Egypt

ISSN 2191-5407 ISSN 2191-5415 (electronic)

SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science
ISSN 2212-9898
SpringerBriefs in Green Chemistry for Sustainability
ISBN 978-3-319-24269-9 ISBN 978-3-319-24271-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-24271-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015948850

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Contents

Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement of Titanium Dioxide

Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 Fundamentals and Mechanism of TiO2 Photocatalysis . . . . . 1
2 Modification of TiO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Doping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4 Non Metal Doping and Co-Doping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5 Metal Ions Doping (Cationic Doping) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6 Coupled, Composite and Hybrid TiO2 Photocatalysts . . . . . 13
7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

v
Abstract

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) with UV irradiation and

photocatalyst titanium dioxide (TiO2) are gaining growing acceptance
as an effective wastewater treatment method. A comprehensive study
of the UV/visible-TiO2 photocatalytic oxidation process was con-
ducted with an insight into the mechanism involved, catalyst TiO2,
irradiation sources, types of reactors, comparison between effective
modes of TiO2 application as immobilized on surface or as suspen-
sion. Photocatalytic degradation technique with TiO2 is generally
applied for treating wastewater containing organic contaminants due
to its ability to achieve complete mineralization of the organic con-
taminants under mild conditions such as ambient temperature and
ambient pressure. TiO2 is highly stable in aqueous media and is
tolerant to both acidic and alkaline solutions. It is inexpensive,
recyclable, reusable, and relatively simple to produce. The large band
gap of TiO2 lies in the UV range, which allows for only 5–8 % of
sunlight to be useful for the activation of the catalyst. Therefore, a
visible light activated catalyst is desired that can take advantage of a
larger fraction of the solar spectrum and would be much more
effective in environmental cleanup. Several competing effects inher-
ently limit catalyst efficiency. The positively charged holes and
negatively charged electrons tend, by nature, to recombine to yield a
neutral state, through emission of photons or phonons. This can occur
via volumetric or surface recombination.
There are several known ways to increase the efficiency of a
photocatalyst. The effects of particle size reduction, anion doping
with nitrogen ions, and cations, e.g., Nd, Pd, Pt, Co doping have been

vii
viii Abstract

extensively researched in order to increase its effectiveness by

introducing trapping sites. The aim of this chapter is to give an
overview of the development and enhancement of the activity of TiO2
nanoparticles in photocatalysis. The topics covered include a detailed
look at the unique properties of the TiO2 nanoparticles and their
relation to photocatalytic properties. The utilization of the TiO2
nanoparticles as photocatalysts, in the non doped and doped forms,
has been reviewed. Finally, the use of modified TiO2 nanoparticles
has made a significant contribution in providing definitive mecha-
nistic information regarding the visible light photocatalytic process.

Keywords AOPs
Photocatalysis enhancement
Photocatalysis

doping
Photocatalysis wastewater
TiO2 nanomaterials water
pollution
Wastewater treatment nanoparticles
Introduction

Oxidation technologies for the wastewater treatment are widely

investigated for the degradation of organic contaminants. Ozonation,
H2O2 based methods, photochemical, wet oxidation electrochemical,
and photocatalysis, etc. have been used for this purpose [1].
Heterogeneous photocatalysis is one of the most advanced oxidation
process applicable to decontamination of water. According to the
IUPAC, [2] a photocatalyst is a solid material that is able to produce,
by absorption of light quanta, chemical transformations of the reac-
tion participants, repeatedly coming with them into the intermediate
chemical interactions and regenerating its chemical composition after
each cycle of such interactions. Accordingly, photocatalysis is defined
as a “change in the rate of a chemical reaction or its initiation under
the action of light (photons) in the presence of a substance—the
photocatalyst—that absorbs light and is involved in the chemical
transformation of the reaction partners” [1, 3]. The major advantages
of photocatalysis in wastewater treatments are:
(i) Photocatalysis using visible light offers a good substitute for the
energy-driven wastewater treatment methods.
(ii) Photocatalysis can be used for the degradation or change a
variety of harmful components to low toxic or non-toxic
products and generation of secondary waste is minimal.
(iii) This process can be applied to aqueous and gaseous-phase
treatments, as well as solid- (soil-) phase treatments to some
extent.
(iv) The reaction conditions for photocatalysis are mild, the reaction
time is modest, and a lesser chemical input is required.

ix
x Introduction

(v) The option for recovery can also be explored for metals, which
are converted to their less-toxic/nontoxic metallic states.
(vii) The photocatalyst remains chemically unchanged during and
after photocatalysis and can be reused several times.

References
1. M. Luisa Marin, Lucas Santos-Juanes, Antonio Arques, Ana M. Amat, and
Miguel A. Miranda. Organic Photocatalysts for the Oxidation of Pollutants and
Model Compounds. Chem. Rev. 2012, 112, 1710–1750.
2. Braslavsky, S.E. Glossary of terms used in photochemistry, 3rd edition (IUPAC
Recommendations 2006). Pure Appl. Chem. 2007, 79, 29–465.
3. B. Ohtani Principle of Photocatalysisand Design of Active Photocatalysts Chapter 5
in New and Future Developments in Catalysis. 2013, Pages 121–144.
Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement
of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

1 Fundamentals and Mechanism of TiO2

Photocatalysis

Photocatalysis is based on the excitation of a semiconductor material

with irradiation of light energy at least equal or greater to that of the
band gap energy of the material. An electron in an electron filled
valence band (VB) is excited upon irradiation of light to a vacant
conduction band (CB) and leave behind a positive hole (h+) in the
VB. These electrons and holes (e− and h+) are mainly responsible for
the generation of active species which degrade the target molecules.
These charge carriers e− and h+ drive the reduction and oxidation,
respectively [1, 3, 4]. These charge carriers migrate to the photocat-
alyst surface and indicate the secondary reactions with the adsorbed
components on the surface of solid semiconductor. The photo excited
e− in CB changes oxygen to the superoxide radicals and hydroper-
oxide radicals while positive h+ in VB can oxidize the adsorbed water
or hydroxyl ions to from hydroxyl radicals (Fig. 1). These reactive
species (superoxide radicals or hydroperoxide radicals and hydroxyl
radicals) can be involved in the degradation of surface adsorbed
compounds. The overall process can be summarizing as follows:
Semiconductor material

© The Author(s) 2016 1

M.A. Barakat and R. Kumar, Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement
of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles, SpringerBriefs in Green Chemistry
for Sustainability, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-24271-2_1
2 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

Conduction Band
Excited Electrons (e−)

O2
(Rutile: 3.0 eV)
−
O2° + HO2 °
Band Gap
UV Light (Anatase: 3.2 eV)
TiO2 Positive Holes (h+)
H2O
Charge
Recombination OH°
Valance Band

Fig. 1 UV light TiO2 photocatalysis mechanism

ðTiO2 Þ þ hm ! hþ 
VB þ eCB ð1Þ

e 
CB þ O2 ! O2 ðreductionÞ ð2Þ

hþ  þ
VB þ H2 O ! OH þ H ðoxidationÞ ð3Þ


O2 þ Hþ ! HO2  ð4Þ

e  
CB þ HO2 ! HO2 ð5Þ

HO þ
2 þ hVB ! H2 O2 ð6Þ

Titanium dioxide is one of the most investigated nanomaterial

during last decades with the major focus in the area of energy and
environmental applications. The major breakthrough come in 1972
when Fujishima and Honda discovered the photosensitization effect
of TiO2 electrode for the electrolysis of water into hydrogen and
oxygen in UV light irradiation [5]. Since 1972, a lot of photocatalytic
studies have been reported on the TiO2 based catalyst because of its
high surface area, biological and chemical stability, low cost, low
toxicity and high photocatalytic activity. Generally, TiO2 existed in
four different phases, anatase (tetragonal), rutile (tetragonal), brookite
(orthorhombic) and TiO2 (B) (monoclinic). TiO2 in anatase form
shows the highly photocatalytic activity compared to rutile and
brookite [6, 7]. All structures are built-up of TiO6 octahedra but differ
1 Fundamentals and Mechanism of TiO2 Photocatalysis 3

Table 1 Crystallographic data of different TiO2 polymorphs [7]

in their stacking. The structures of all three forms are shown in

Table 1 [7].

TiO2 photocatalyst is only restrict to absorb the light in ultra-

violet region (wavelength < 390 nm) due to the wide band gap
(3.2 eV for anatase and 3.0 eV for rutile). The photoexcitation of
TiO2 generate the electon/hole pairs. The UV light activity and
fast recombination of electon/hole pairs limits the use of TiO2 in
visible light and the photocatalytic efficacy, respectively.

TiO2 photocatalyst is only restrict to absorb the light in ultraviolet

region (wavelength < 390 nm) due to the wide band gap (3.2 eV for
anatase and 3.0 eV for rutile). Although, solar light contains only
about 2–3 % UV light, therefore, TiO2 based materials which can
harvest solar light are always in need. Modifications by various
strategies have been applied to make the TiO2 as visible light active
material such as doping with metal and non metals, co-doping, cou-
pling etc. [6, 7].
4 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

2 Modification of TiO2

In last decade, new modified TiO2 based photocatalyst for the visible
light photocatalytic activity have been developed by tailoring its
surface by using several approach. Doping of impurities, coupling
with narrow band gap semiconductor for shifting TiO2 response to
visible region are the most promising approaches. It is desirable to
sustain the integrity of the crystal structure of the photocatalyst while
changing its electronic structure [8]. There are several approaches
which can be used to modify and enhance the visible light photo-
catalytic activity of TiO2 such as doping, co-doping,
coupling/composite, hybridization, doping and coupling, capping or
coating etc.

Modification of the TiO2 not only reduces its energy band gap
but also prevent electron/hole pair charge recombination which
enhanced the photocatalytic activity.

3 Doping

Doping of metal or nonmetal has been widely used to tune the optical
band gap of the TiO2 for the catalytic purpose. The doping process is
an effective approach to improve the visible light activity. Doping
with cations or anions may alter the band gap or introduction of intra
band gap states which may make TiO2 to absorb the visible light.

4 Non Metal Doping and Co-Doping

Non metals such as nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, iodine etc. doping of

TiO2 have shown great potential in the development in the new
visible light active photocatalyst [9]. Nitrogen is one of the most
commonly use for the doping because of its high stability and small
ionization energy. Moreover, its comparable atomic size with oxygen
4 Non Metal Doping and Co-Doping 5

can be easily introduced in the TiO2 structure. To the best of our

knowledge, Asahi et al. [10] was the very first group applied the
N-TiO2 (TiO2-xNx) as a visible light photocatalytic degradation of
methylene blue and gaseous acetaldehyde. Since then, a lot of
research works have been published on the synthesis of N-TiO2 for
the environmental applications. Several approaches has been used to
introduce the nitrogen into TiO2 structure such as wet chemical
methods and physical methods. Physical methods such as atomic
layer deposition [11], pulsed laser deposition [12, 13], sputtering [14,
15], ion implementation [16], and so forth have been applied for the
doping of nitrogen into TiO2. However, the most applied technique
for N-TiO2 synthesis is sol-gel method. The simplicity, low cost and
are easy operation the foremost advantages of this method. By this
method martial with controlled morphology and porosity can be
easily synthesized.
Lee and coworkers [17] synthesized the nonporous N-TiO2 by
sol-gel method and ultrasound irradiation using urea as nitrogen
source. The Photoluminescence results revealed that the intensity of
N-TiO2 was much lower than that of TiO2. The low intensity of
N-TiO2 was due to the reduced electron hole recombination. The
photocatalytic efficacy of N-TiO2 for the degradation of reactive black
5 and rhodamine B was almost 100 % within 70 min visible light
irradiation.
Liu et al. [18] grown the highly ordered N-doped TiO2 nanotube
arrays by electrochemical anode oxidation of Ti foil followed by
treatment with nitrogen-plasma and subsequent annealed under Ar
atmosphere. The XPS results demonstrated that all the incorporated
N2 was interstitial N-TiO2. The UV-vis DRS analysis showed that the
band gap energy of pure TiO2 nanotubes and N-doped TiO2 were
*3.24 and *3.03 eV. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanotubes
and N-TiO2 nanotubes for the degradation of methylene blue under
visible light irradiation was 68 and 98 % within 90 min, respectively.
The experiments were performed by taking dye concentration
10 mg/L and 350 W Xe lamp.
Interstitial N doped TiO2 was synthesized by sol-gel method using
three different type of nitrogen precursors: diethanolamine, triethyl-
amine and urea [19]. Results revealed that nitrogen source; dietha-
nolamine provided the highest visible light absorption ability of
6 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

Fig. 2 States generated by substitutional (a) and interstitial (b) N-doping in TiO2
[22]

interstitial N-TiO2 with the lowest band gap energy (2.85 eV) and the
smallest anatase crystal size (4.86 nm). N doped TiO2 with dietha-
nolamine showed the highest degradation of 2-chlorophenol com-
pared to triethylamine and urea doped (N doped TiO2).
However, researchers have different views about the mechanism of
visible light photocatalytic activity of N-TiO2. Some scientists believe
that substitutional/interstitial N atoms or NOx impurities are respon-
sible for the higher photocatalytic activities [19, 20] while some
ascribed to O vacancies are responsible for enhanced photocatalytic
activity [18]. Moreover, O vacancies in N-TiO2 could results in donor
states located below the CB which enable photoreactions under vis-
ible light irradiation [18, 21, 22]. Both the localized states for N
doping in TiO2 is shown in Fig. 2.
To identify the N doping as substitutional element on the O lattice
or at interstitial lattice sites, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
(XPS) is a power full tool to discriminate the two sites. The binding
energy of N 1 s at around 397 eV is the representative of substitu-
tional N, while the peaks at >400 eV are assigned to NO (400 eV) and
NO2 (406 eV) reveals the interstitial N [19, 23]. Literature review
revealed that doping method or technique is very important factor
for the synthesis of N doped TiO2 which may influence the state of
nitrogen in TiO2 and its efficiency in the visible light absorption.
4 Non Metal Doping and Co-Doping 7

The formation of oxygen vacancies in the bulk usually due to the N

doping into the TiO2 lattice, could act as recombination centers for
carriers resulted in reduction the photocatalytic efficiency [24].
Carbon doping of semiconductor photocatalyst is most growing
field getting significant attention of researchers. Doping of C in TiO2
structure generate new C 2p state close to the O 2p band edge of the
TiO2 which shift absorption of light from UV to visible region [25].
Moreover, porosity and the high surface area due to C doping is
another factor for enhanced photocatalytic activity. The higher sur-
face area and porous surface facilitates the more active sites for
adsorption of the pollutant ions or molecules [25, 26]. Neti et al. [27]
synthesized the C doped TiO2 using resorcinol-formaldehyde
(RF) gel formation in situ during hydrolysis of Ti precursor. The
band gap energy of C-TiO2 was 2.88. The photocatalytic activity of
C-TiO2 for 2-chlorophenol in simulated solar and sunlight were found
to be 56 and 36 %, respectively.

The ionic radius of the anionic dopant is most prominent factor

to replace the oxygen from the TiO2 lattice. Similar or similar
size anionic dopant can be easily replace the oxygen and create
the defects in TiO2 to make it visible light active.

Similar to the N and C doping, fluorine has been successful doped in

TiO2 structure [28–30]. The size of F atom is 1.33 Å (F−) has almost
similar ionic radius and could easily replace O atoms (1.4 Å O2−) [28,
29]. F doping into TiO2 does not shift the band gap, however it improve
surface acidity and causes formation of reduced Ti3+ ions due to the
charge compensation between F− and Ti4+n, resulting in the reduction in
electron hole pair recombination and higher photocatalytic degradation
[25, 31]. He and coworkers [32] fluorinated anatase TiO2 nanosheet for
the oxidation of 2 chlorophenol and reduction of Cr(VI) under visible
light. The results demonstrated that surface fluorination promote the
formation of O vacancies and unsaturated titanium atoms which
enhance the lifetime of photogenerated election-hole pairs and
8 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

produced oxidizing species for 2 chlorophenol degradation and Cr(VI)

reduction.
Doping of nonmetals into TiO2 structure is depending on the ionic
radius of the dopant and O. The ionic radius of sulfur (1.8 Å) is much
higher than the N (1.71 Å), F (1.33 Å) and O (1.4 Å) [33]. Therefore,
doping of S is comparatively more difficult. Incorporation of anionic
sulfur (S2−) is more difficult compared to cationic sulfur (S6+). The
insertion of an S 3p band below the CB shift the band gap energy and
ensure the enhanced photocatalytic activity [25]. Chaudhuri and Paria
[34] synthesized the S doped hollows TiO2 nanocatalyst and inves-
tigate its application for methylene blue degradation under solar light.
Hollow S-TiO2 has high surface area and low band gap energy
(318.11 m2 g−1 and 2.5 eV) compared to solid particles of TiO2. The
S-TiO2 nanocatalyst shows 98.6 % degradation of methylene blue and
able to degrade 71 % of dye after five cycles. These results showed
that S-TiO2 is a highly efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of
organic pollutant.
In recent years, non metal co-doping has been explored for the
further enhance the visible light photocatalysis [35, 36]. Co-doping
could modify the surface characteristics any introduce new photoac-
tive centers, and tuning the band structure. Mani et al. C and N
co-doped TiO2 with the high surface area for the photocatalytic deg-
radation of methyl orange under visible light irradiation. The band gap
energy of C/N-TiO2 was found 3.0 eV. Liu and coworkers [36] pre-
pared the F and N co-doped TiO2 for the degradation of rhodamine B.
Upon annealing, the texture property and surface property were
changed. The defect density plays the important role in the visible light
absorption and the F/N-TiO2 sample annealed at 300 °C showed the
significant photodegradation of dye. N,S-co-doped TiO2 photocatalyst
was synthesized by the hydrolysis TiCl4 using ammonia in the pres-
ence of glacial acetic acid and ammonium sulfate [37]. The photo-
catalytic efficiency of N/S-TiO2 for phenol was much higher the
commercial Degussa P25. N and S doping not only reduces its band
gap but also improve the anatase crystallization and thermal stability.
The high photocatalytic activity of the N/S-TiO2 can be credited to the
4 Non Metal Doping and Co-Doping 9

results of the synergetic effects of its high surface area, large pore
volume, well-crystallized anatase, red shift in adsorption edge and
strong absorbance of light with longer wavelength.

5 Metal Ions Doping (Cationic Doping)

Doping of metal ions into the TiO2 structure (Cationic doping) has
demonstrated the efficient method for enhance the visible light
absorption. The electrons injected into CB from VB can be easily
transported to surface of the catalyst and electrons can be easily
trapped by doping with transition metals, noble metals, poor metals,
earth metals [25]. Doping of metallic cations enhance the redox
potential of the radicals generated during photocatalysis and reduce
the e−/h+ recombination life.
Various transition metal ions such as Ni(II), Cr(III) Fe(III) and Zn
(II) have been investigated as dopant with TiO2 to reduce the bath
chromic shift. This red shift of band edge of TiO2 is probably due to
the overlapping of conduction band Ti(3d) with d levels of the
transition metals which allow absorption of light into the visible
region [38]. The ionic radius of transition metals such as Fe3+(0.69
Å), Cr3+(0.76 Å), Ni2+(0.72 Å), and Zn2+(0.74 Å) are quite closer to
the ionic radii of Ti4+(0.75 Å). Therefore incorporation of these
transition metals into TiO2 lattice is much easy [38, 39]. However,
doping of transition metals ions may also reduce the quantum effi-
ciency because it may act as recombination sites for the photogen-
erated charge carriers. Moreover, transition metal doping may also
make anatase TiO2 thermally unstable [40]. The photocatalytic
activity may vary according to the nature, dopant and amount of the
doping agent. Photo corrosive nature of the dopant also be a limiting
factor in the photocatalytic reactions.
Jaimy et al. [41] used sol gel method for the doping of Cr(III) into
the TiO2 lattice. They observed that transformation of anatase TiO2 to
rutile TiO2 was suppressed up to 800 °C by Cr(III) ions doping. Due
to doping, a red shift in the band gap energy was observed and
0.25 mol% Cr(III) doped TiO2 calcinated at 800 °C showed the
10 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

highest photocatalytic degradation of the methylene blue. The fol-

lowing steps were expected to be involved in the photocatalytic
reaction.

CrðIIIÞ þ hm ! CrðIVÞ þ e ð7Þ

e þ O2 ! O
2 ð8Þ

CrðIVÞ þ OH ! OH þ CrðIIIÞ ð9Þ

Chen et al. [42] compared the photocatalytic activity of Fe(III), Ni

(II), Cu(II) and Co(II) doped TiO2. Hydrothermal methd was used for
the doping of transition metals. Results demonstrated that the Cu(II)
and Co(II) doped TiO2 shows the highest activity for methylene blue
dye under both UV and visible light.
Manganese ion doped TiO2 powders and thin films were prepared
using sol-get method by Sharma and coworkers [43]. The dopant
concentrations were varied from 2–10 mol%. The synthesized
materials were used for the degradation of methylene blue and the
results demonstrated that synthesized materials were more active in
UV light than the visible. The possible path for the photocatalysis
reaction on Mn-TiO2 was suggested by the authors

TiO2 þ hm ! hþ 
vb þ eCB ð10Þ

TiðIVÞ þ e
CB ! TiðIIIÞ ð11Þ

O2 þ hm ! O þ e ð12Þ

MnðIIÞ þ e
CB ! MnðIÞ ð13Þ

MnðIÞ + O2 ! MnðIIÞ + O

2 ð14Þ

MnðIIÞ þ hvb þ ! MnðIIIÞ ð15Þ

MnðIIIÞ þ OH ! MnðIIÞ þ OH ð16Þ

Alternatively, the Mn(III) can also trap CB electron or Mn(I) can

trap VB hole to retain half filled electronic structure of Mn(II)
5 Metal Ions Doping (Cationic Doping) 11

Fig. 3 Visible light photocatalytic degradation of Methylene blue onto Au/TiO2

[47]

MnðIÞ þ hþ
vb ! MnðIIÞ ð17Þ

MnðIIIÞ þ e
CB ! MnðIIÞ ð18Þ

MnðIIÞ þ TiðIIIÞ ! MnðIÞ þ TiðIVÞ ðelectron trapÞ ð19Þ

MnðIIÞ þ O ! MnðIIIÞ þ O2 ðhole trapÞ ð20Þ

The use of the noble metals such as silver (Ag), gold (Au), ruth-
ernium (Ru), platinum (Pt), osmium (Os) etc. have been investigated
as dopent to red shift the band gap energy from UV to visible light.
The metals are resistance to photocorrosion and oxidation. The noble
metal act as electron scavenger in charge separations and visible light
absorbing sensitizer [44]. Ag doped TiO2 nanomaterials were syn-
thesized and used a visible light photocatalyst for the rhodhamine 6G
by Seery [45]. The results revealed that as the amount of silver doing
increases, the rate of dye degradation increases. Kuo et al. [46] pre-
pared the Pt and Ag doped TiO2 coating thin film photreactor using
photoreduction process. The physic-chemical studies reveled that
Ag-TiO2 thin film consists Ag2O, Ag and TiO2 while Pt-TiO2 coating
contain Pt and TiO2. The photocatalytic results for o-cresol degra-
dation revealed that Pt-TiO2 coating showed the higher degradation
rate compared to the Ag-TiO2 coating. Absorption of visible light and
electron transfer from Au to the CB of TiO2 is shown in Fig. 3 [47].
12 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

Jiao and coworkers [48] synthesized the Ru doped TiO2 film and
observed the better photocatalytic efficiency for the phenol degrada-
tion. The results demonstrated that the doping act as the separation of
photogenerated electrons and induced the electron transfer rate at the
surface.
Application of rare earth metals scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), cerium
(Ce), gadolinium (Gd) etc. have been investigated as dopant due to
its incompletely filled 4f and empty 5d orbitals [26]. Stengl and
coworkers [49] prepared investigate the photocatalytic activity of La,
Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Dy, Gd doped TiO2 for the decomposition of
orange second dye. The photocatalytic activity with Nd(II) and Ce
(IV) doping were much higher. The transitions of 4f electrons of rare
earth led to the enforcement of the optical adsorption of catalysts and
enhanced the life photo-generated electron–hole pairs. Moreover the
photocatalytic activity of the catalyst also increase with the increase
in the doping content and the 0.5–1.0 % rare earth ion doping shows
the highest activity while in case on Nd(III) doing maximum degra-
dation was observed at 10 wt% doing. A series of Er(III), Yb(III) and
Er(III)/Yb(III) co-doped TiO2 photocatalysts were synthesized via
sol-gel method [50]. The XPS results demonstrate that terbium and
ytterbium were present in the oxide form. Yb(III)-TiO2 containing
1 mol% Yb(III) showed the highest photocatalytic activity for phenol
degradation. The results demonstrated that the visible light sensiti-
zation was probably due to the increase in surface area, reduction in
crystallite size, increase in adsorption sites and deterrence of elec-
tron–hole recombination. XRD analysis indicates incorporation of
rare earth metal ions into TiO2 lattice creating oxygen vacancies and
surface defects.
Poor metals such as tin (Sn), aluminum (Al), lead (Pb), gallium
(Ga), indium (In), thalium (TI), and bismuth (Bi) are the p block
elements having lower melting and boiling point than transition
metals. Tsai et al. [51] synthesized Al doped TiO2 by direct combi-
nation of vaporized Ti, Al, and O2 using a 6 kW thermal plasma
system. Both rutile and anatase phases were present in the Al-TiO2. Ti
(III) and Ti(IV) forms were coexisted in Al doped TiO2 and the
amount of Ti(III) increased with the increase in the Al concentrations
5 Metal Ions Doping (Cationic Doping) 13

due to Al/Ti substitution which caused the occurrence of O vacancies.

Shaoyou et al. [52] reported that small amount of Al doping in TiO2
photocatalytic degradation of congo red dye and which was much
higher than that of pure TiO2. The photocatalytic performances of
Bi-TiO2 were studied by degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol
(2,4-DCP) in transparent aqueous solutions under visible light illu-
mination [53]. Results revealed that mesoporous polyethylene
glycol-modified Bi-TiO2 exhibited much higher photocatalytic
activities than Bi-TiO2 without modification, and noticeably the
optimized doping level was increased from 2 to 4 mol%. The higher
activity of PEG-modified Bi-TiO2 could be attributed to well mix
crystal phase, high surface area and porosity, and its strong absorption
in the visible region. The introduction of Bi induces the Bi(IV)/Bi(III)
species which act as electron trap and thus ensure the separation of
the electron–hole pairs [54]. Sui and coworker [55] reported the
effectiveness of the Sn doped TiO2. Doing of Sn(IV) prevent the
phase transformation of TiO2 from anatase to rutile, decreases the
diameter of TiO2 photocatalyst, and enhances significantly the pho-
tocatalytic activity. The effectiveness of Sn into TiO2 lattices was due
to similar ionic radii of Sn(IV) (0.71 Å) and Ti(IV) (0.68 Å).

6 Coupled, Composite and Hybrid TiO2

Photocatalysts

Modification of photocatalyst by coupling between two or more

semiconductors with different energy levels is an additional approach
to make the visible light active photocatalyst [33, 56, 57]. When a
semiconductor having low band gap energy and negative conduction
band level is coupled with the large band gap of TiO2, the electrons
can be transferred from low band gap of the semiconductor to the
TiO2. The interfacial charge transfer processes are influenced by the
sensitizer semiconductor and promote the separation of photogener-
ated electrons and holes [25]. Bessekhouad et al. reported that the
transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes between the low band
14 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

gap sensitizer and TiO2 mainly depends on the difference between the
CB and VB potentials of the applied semiconductors [57]. Upon the
visible irradiation, only sensitizer semiconductor absorbs the visible
light photons and get excited. These excited electrons flow into the
CB of the closest TiO2 [58]. Negatively charged CdS quantum dots
were evenly deposited on the TiO2 nanotubes arrays [59]. The
CdS-TiO2 nanotube array hybrid nanostructures show efficient
visible-light photoactivity towards the photo oxidation of methyl
orange and the photocatalytic reduction of nitrophenol derivatives.
CdS upon visible light irradiation, photo excited electron from CB of
CdS injected to the CB of the TiO2 nanotubes. These injected elec-
trons radically transferred to the bottom of Ti foil and enhance the
electron hole charge separation and produced the highly active oxy-
gen species responsible for the degradation of dye. While the
photogenerated holes selectively reduce the nitrophenol derivatives.
However, photocorrosion is very common in CdS due to oxidation by
photogenerated holes. In CdS-TiO2, surrounding TiO2 matrix protect
the CdS against photocorrosion [60]. In CdS-TiO2 nanotube array
hybrid nanostructures, photogenerated holes can be transfer to
adsorbed water on the TiO2 surface, which prevent holes to react with
CdS directly [59]. Liu et al. [61] fabricated CdS/TiO2 nanowires on
the surface zeolite by sol-gel and hydrothermal synthesis method.
Figure 4, shows the generation of oxidizing and reduction species on
the surface of composite. In this composite zeolite act as an adsorbent
and CdS/TiO2 degrade the methyl blue though the photocatalysis
process. V2O5 semiconductor is another low band gap energy
(2.3 eV) material used for the coupling with the TiO2. Wang et al.
[62] prepared the V2O5/TiO2 nanostructure by electrospinning and
observed that 1:1 molar ration of V/Ti showed the highest visible
light photocatalytic activity for rhodamine B dye even after 10
regeneration cycles.
Libera et al. [63] reported the photocatalytic activity of the FexOy
centers created on the surface of TiO2 using Atomic Layer deposition
technique. Authors reported that the TiO2 and a physically mixed
Fe2O3/TiO2 did not show the any significant decomposition of
methylene blue compared to FexOy/TiO2 under visible light. The
6 Coupled, Composite and Hybrid TiO2 Photocatalysts 15

Fig. 4 Photocatalytic degradation mechanism for CdS/TiO2/zeolite composite

materials [61]

higher efficacy of FexOy/TiO2 was due to the efficient charge sepa-

ration and unique redox properties of photogenerated changes.
WO3 is well known semiconductor and TiO2/WO3 is a coupled
semiconductor-semiconductors system which has received great
attention of the researchers in the field of photocatalysis [6, 25, 64].
Under the visible light irradiation, WO3 can be excited and electron
from the WO3 can be transferred to the surface adsorbed O2 and holes
can be transferred from WO3 to TiO2. Lu and coworkers [64] syn-
thesized the WO3 decorated on the internal external sidewall of TiO2
nanotubes (WO3@TiO2@WO3). The UV and visible light photo-
catalytic activity of TiO2 nanofibers, TiO2 nanotubes, and TiO2
nanofibers decorated with WO3 nanoparticles, were prepared in order
to compare with the WO3@TiO2@WO3. The heterostructure
WO3@TiO2@WO3 showed a wide range of light absorption and
demonstrated the highest photocatalytic activity for rhodamine B dye.
The higher photocatalytic degradation rates of organic pollutants
could be mainly due to the increase in the photogenerated electron
transfer. Higher rates of pollutant degradation were recorded owing to
16 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

Fig. 5 Processes in semiconductor photocatalysis. Photoabsorption and electron–

hole pair generation from change of separation and migration of the electron to the
surface [68]

the increase of transfer from TiO2 to WO3 via the formation of an

intermediate W(V) species, together with the increased surface acidity
in the TiO2/WO3 couple [25, 65].
In recent few years, nanocarbon based photocatalysts has been
widely explored in photocatalytic applications. Graphene and carbon
nanotubes belong to this class. Both are considered as good supports
for semiconductors with photocatalytic properties because of their
high surface area, porous structure, high mechanical strength and
chemical stability. Combination of graphene (GN) and CNTs with
TiO2 as composite photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pol-
lutants has been investigated. GN and CNTs allow a efficient and
faster electron and heat transfer [66]. These nanocarbon can effi-
ciently adsorb the organic pollutant in aqueous solution and also
promote the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 by trapping the
photogenerated electrons and enhance the charge separation [66, 67].
The movement of the electron in CNT/TiO2 composite has been
shown in Fig. 5 [68].
Kuvarega et al. [67] synthesized N and Pd co-doped
MWCNTs/TiO2 nancomposite for the degradation of eosin yellow
6 Coupled, Composite and Hybrid TiO2 Photocatalysts 17

Fig. 6 The excitonic process and degradation of dye eosin yellow onto N and Pd
co-doped MWCNTs/TiO2 nanocomposite [67]

under simulated and solar light irradiation. Figure 6 shows the exci-
tonic process and degradation of dye onto N and Pd co-doped
MWCNTs/TiO2 nanocomposite. The authors reported that 0.5 wt%
content in the composite shows the best photocatalytic results. The
higher MWCNTs loading in composite reduces the degradation of
dye. In another study, Wang et al. reported that 5 wt% loading of
MWCNTs in MWCNTs/TiO2 composite showed the maximum
degradation of 2,6 dinitro-p-cresol [69].
Similar to CNTs, nanocomposite of GN (or GR) with TiO2 shown
the enhanced photocatalytic property. GN also work as an acceptor
material due to its π-conjugation structure, thus in TiO2/GN system,
the excited electrons of TiO2 could transfer from the conduction band
to GN. Moreover, two dimantional planer structure and π-π interac-
tion between composite and organic pollutant are the main reasons for
18 Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement …

Fig. 7 a Schematic illustration of the photodegradation of rhodamine B molecules

by the graphene/TiO2 nanocrystals hybrid under irradiation by a mercury lamp. The
inset shows the solution of the graphene/TiO2 nanocrystals hybrid. b Photocatalytic
degradation of rhodamine B monitored as normalized concentration change versus
irradiation time in the presence of free TiO2, P25, graphene/TiO2 nanocrystals
hybrid and a graphene/TiO2 mixture. c Average reaction rate constant (min−1) for
the photodegradation of rhodamine B with free TiO2, P25, graphene/TiO2
nanocrystals hybrid, and the graphene/TiO2 mixture. The error bars are based on
measurements on at least four different samples [71]

the enhanced photocatalytic activity of the composite catalyst [66,

70]. Graphene oxide/TiO2 nanocrystal hybrid as a superior photo-
catalyst has been synthesized by direct gropwn of nanocrystal on GO
sheet [71]. Synthesized GO/TiO2 nanocrystal hybrid showed three
fold photocatalytic degradation rhodamine B compared to P25 as
6 Coupled, Composite and Hybrid TiO2 Photocatalysts 19

shown in Fig. 7. Muthirulann [72] showed the electron transfer

mechanism from CB of TiO2 to GR as follows:

TiO2 =GR þ hv ! TiO2 ðhþ ÞGRðe Þ ð21Þ

GRðe Þ þ O2 ! GR þ O
2 ð22Þ

TiO2 ðhþ Þ þ H2 O=OH ! TiO2 þ  OH ð23Þ


OH þ acid orange 7 ! degradation products ð24Þ

Ternary PbS-graphene/TiO2 composites were synthesized by the

sol-gel method by Ullah et al. [73]. The authors observed that the
activity of the composite in visible region was due to the coupling of
PbS with TiO2 while graphene act a photogenerated charge separator
and transporter. Ullah et al. [73] proposed the following mechanism
for the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation.

PbS  TiO2 þ hm ! PbSðhþ ; e Þ  TiO2 ð25Þ

PbSðhþ ; e Þ  TiO2 ! PbSðhþ Þ þ TiO2 ðe Þ ð26Þ

e þ O2 ! O
2 ð27Þ

hþ þ H2 O ! OH þ Hþ ð28Þ

O 
2 or OH þ methylene blue ! CO2 ; H2 O ð29Þ

In recent years, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has caught the

much attention due to its promising visible light photocatalytic
application [74]. The highest occupied molecular orbital of the g-C3N4
(−1.12 eV) is more negative than TiO2. Therefore, g-C3N4 can be
coupled with the TiO2 to form the new vsisble light photocatalyst due
to closer band gap edge potential [75]. Zhu et al. [76] synthesized the
g-C3N4-TiO2 composite to improve the visible light absorption and
visible light photocatalytic activity of TiO2. The synthesize composite
shows the higher photocatalytic activity then the pure g-C3N4 under
visible light irradiation. The enhanced visible light activity was mainly
due the formation of heterojunction which enhanced the charge
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