Synthesis and Characterization of CdTiO3@S Composite: Investigation of Photocatalytic Activity for the Degradation of Crystal Violet Under Sun Light

• Published in: Journal of inorganic and organometallic polymers and materials 2020-03, Vol.30 (3), p.667-683
• Main Authors: Tavakoli-Azar, Tayebeh, Mahjoub, Ali Reza, Seyed Sadjadi, Mirabdullah, Farhadyar, Nazanin, Hossaini Sadr, Moayad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalytic activity; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Crystal defects; Energy gap; Hydrothermal crystal growth; Inorganic Chemistry; Kinetics; Low temperature; Morphology; Optical properties; Organic Chemistry; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Photodegradation; Polymer Sciences; Sunlight; Synthesis
• ISSN: 1574-1443; 1574-1451
• DOI: 10.1007/s10904-019-01218-9

CdTiO 3 was synthesized by hydrothermal method at low temperature of 180 °C for 24 h. CdTiO 3 @S composite with plate-like morphology was synthesized by mixing CdTiO 3 and S powder under post-annealing at 600 °C for 2 h. The as-synthesized samples were investigated by techniques XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, TEM, FT-IR, TG-DSC, BET. The results showed that the synthesized of CdTiO 3 @S composite has led to the creation of defects and skew deviations in crystalline lattice. Optical properties and photocatalytic activity were studied using DRS and UV–Vis spectrophotometer. UV–Vis DRS indicated absorption peaks extended towards visible region. Band gap energy values were determined by Tauc plot for direct transitions which the values of 3.28 eV and 2.75 eV were obtained for CdTiO 3 and CdTiO 3 @S respectively. Photocatalyst performance of CdTiO 3 and CdTiO 3 @S were carried out for the degradation of crystal violet (CV) under natural sunlight. The results showed that the degradation efficiency of CdTiO 3 @S composite (99%) was better than that of pure CdTiO 3 (35%), which is due to the presence of narrow band gap energy of CdTiO 3 @S. The effect of examining different photocatalytic parameters indicated that, photocatalytic activity of CdTiO 3 @S composite increases with decreasing CV dye concentration, increasing the photocatalyst dosage and in acidic pH. Kinetics studies have shown that the degradation of CV by the as-synthesized of photocatalysts follows the pseudo-first-order kinetics and the rate constant achieved for CdTiO 3 @S (k = 76.10 −4  min −1 ) was much greater than of CdTiO 3 (k = 4.10 −4  min −1 ).