Authors: Mohammad Hossein Habibi Elahe Shojaee
Publish Date: 2016/12/28
Volume: 28, Issue: 8, Pages: 5971-5978
Abstract
Heterostructured CoTiO3 nanocomposite photocatalyst was produced by a modified sol–gel process diethylene glycol as as stabilizer and coated on glass as a thin film by Doctor Blade coating CoTiO3 nanocomposites were calcinated at 550 650 and 750 °C to study the structure and phase formation of CoTiO3 nanocomposites Xray diffraction results showed that the pure CoTiO3 nanocrystalline phase is formed at 650 °C while Co3O4 and TiO2 were present as impurities at 550 and 750 °C annealing temperatures Field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive Xray spectroscopy analysis of heterostructured CoTiO3 nanocomposite coated on a glass reveal the formation of spherical shape of nanocrystalline phases with an average size of 75 nm The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results showed the existence of Co–O Ti–O and Ti–O–Co bonds Thermogravimetric and derivative thermogravimetric analysis show that the weight loss phases are completed at 750 °C with peak temperatures of 107 and 345 °C The UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra reveal the optical band gaps of 1587 eV 781 nm and 2079 eV 596 nm Photocatalytic activity of heterostructured CoTiO3 nanocomposite photocatalyst was examined for degradation of Nile blue dye and the results showed complete degradation in 25 h of light irradiation This is attributed to the efficient separation of electron–hole pairs of the CoTiO3 nanocomposite narrow band gap and visiblelight harvesting ability
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