A comparative study on impact of the synthesis techniques on the catalytic properties of Ni-doped titania

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. B, Solid-state materials for advanced technology Solid-state materials for advanced technology, 2024-01, Vol.299, p.117013, Article 117013
• Main Authors: Rao, Shreya, Shilpa, M.P., Jagadish Shetty, Shivakumar, Murari, M.S., Santhosh, G, Surabhi, Srivathsava, Ravikirana, Gurumurthy, S.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Hydrothermal method; Nanoparticles; Ni-doped titania; Sol–gel method
• ISSN: 0921-5107; 1873-4944
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mseb.2023.117013

[Display omitted] •Nickel-doped TiO2 is prepared via two different methods i.e., sol–gel and hydrothermal methods.•The prepared samples exhibited good catalytic efficiency for the removal of organic contaminants such as 4-Nitrophenol and Rhodamine B.•Hydrothermally synthesized Ni-TiO2 presented comparatively better catalytic efficiency compared to sample prepared via sol–gel technique. In the present study, nickel-doped titania (NiTiO2) has been prepared using sol–gel (S-NiTiO2) and the hydrothermal (H-NiTiO2) methods. XRD of both samples depicted NiTiO2withan anatase phase, but the S-NiTiO2had ahighly crystalline structure. In the optical spectra, S-NiTiO2 showed a slight decrement in bandgap (3.20 eV) compared to undoped titania (3.26 eV), while the bandgap of H-NiTiO2 has decreased drastically to 3.08 eV. FESEM depicted the morphologies of the prepared doped nanoparticles (NPs). The catalytic dye degradation/reduction efficiency of prepared samples was studied by using Rhodamine B (RhB) and 4-Nitrophenol (4-NP). It was observed that the prepared nanoparticles can be efficiently used as catalysts to degrade the dyes and for the reduction of 4-Nitrophenol. S-NiTiO2 and H-NiTiO2 degraded Rhodamine B completely in 13 min and 7 min, respectively. 4-Nitrophenol is degraded by 90.16%, and 77.52% in the presence of S-NiTiO2 and H-NiTiO2 respectively. In the case of catalytic studies, the H-NiTiO2exhibited enhanced efficiency compared to pure and S-NiTiO2nanoparticles.