Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of S-Doped TiO2 Prepared via a Modified Sol-Gel Process

Abstract

S-Doped TiO₂ was prepared via modified sol-gel process. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N₂ adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-VIS spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were conducted to characterize the prepared TiO₂ particles. It is shown that the prepared TiO₂ particles were around 10 nm with narrow particle size distribution. The addition of MCM-41 restricted the agglomeration and growth of TiO₂ particles, thus leading to the small particle size. The photocatalytic performance in the degradation of methylene blue indicated that S-doped TiO₂ showed much higher photocatalytic activity than pure TiO₂ under visible light. The sulfuration time and sulfuration temperature exhibited significant influence on the photocatalytic activity of prepared TiO₂ catalysts.