Photocatalytic removal of 2-nitrophenol using silver and sulfur co-doped TiO₂ under natural solar light

To overcome the drawback of poor solar light utilization brought about by the narrow photoresponse range of TiO₂, a silver and sulfur co-doped TiO₂ was synthesized. Using the prepared catalyst, solar photocatalytic degradation of 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) by a TiO₂-based catalyst was studied for the first time. Effects of the co-doping on the structural, optical and morphological properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were investigated by different characterization methods: X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption measurements, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Solar experiments showed that the co-doping with silver and sulfur significantly increased the photocatalytic activity. In various initial concentrations of 2-NP more than 99% of the contaminant was decomposed by Ag-S/TiO₂ in less than 150 minutes, while the degradation efficiency was much less in the presence of bare TiO₂. Kinetic studies suggested that solar photocatalytic degradation of 2-NP is consistent with the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. The rate constant of the reaction and adsorption constant of the modified photocatalyst were found to be 2.4 and 4.1 times larger than that of bare TiO₂, respectively.