Comparison of Photocatalytic activity of Various Metallic and Non-metallic doped TiO2 Nano Particles for Treatment of Pharmaceutical Effluent

Abstract

The use of semiconductor oxide particles such as TiO₂ as photo catalysts has shown great utility in the complete mineralization of organic compounds present in effluent. The dopant maximize the electron trapping for further inhibiting excitation recombination and thereby enhancing the oxidation of organic compounds. A pilot scale synthesis of TiO₂  nano particles has been carried out using the Sol-gel method with various metallic dopants like Iron, Copper, Cobalt, Vanadium, silver and non-metallic dopants like Boron, Phosphorus and Nitrogen. The obtained doped TiO₂ was characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) to determine size, Morphology Index and Dislocation Density in order to analyze the structural, optical and surface properties of the synthesized materials. Photocatalytic activity of the various doped TiO₂ are assessed by the photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical effluent under ultraviolet light and Hydrogen Peroxide to compare treatment efficiency in terms of maximum removal of Chemical Oxidation Demand (COD) of pharmaceutical waste water having initial COD of 40000 mg/L. Comparison between TiO₂ nano particles and doped TiO₂ nano particles has also been carried out. From this we conclude that Ag doped TiO₂ nano particles is best among all dopants when amount of photocatalyst was 0.5 gm and H₂O₂ (30 %) was 25 ml. Ag doped TiO₂ shows maximum COD removal efficiency of 84 % where as Boron doped TiO₂ shows minimum efficiency of 31 %.

Keywords: TiO₂ Nano particles; Metallic and Non-metallic Dopants; X-ray Diffraction; Sol-Gel method; photocatalytic Oxidation