Studies on the physicochemical and electronic properties of titanium dioxide doped with transition metal ions

Abstract

The thesis STUDIES ON THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND ELECTRONIC newlinePROPERTIES OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE DOPED WITH TRANSITION METAL newlineIONS documents the synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic degradation of newlinemethyl orange dye experimentation using pure and transition metal ion doped newlinetitanium dioxide nanoparticles. Initially these pure and transition metal ions newline(Zn2+, Cu2+, Zr4+) doped titanium dioxide particles in nano size are synthesized by solgel newlinetechnique and the prepared samples are subjected to structural, vibrational, newlineelemental, morphological, optical and electrical characterizations. The work aims to newlineenhance the photocatalytic degradation properties of titanium dioxide semiconducting newlinenanoparticles. This research contributes to the study and development of titanium newlinedioxide nanomaterials for environmental protection as a photocatalyst for the newlinedegradation of organic pollutants in water. newlineThe as-prepared samples were calcined at various temperatures, prefixed as newline400, 600, 800 and 900 °C based on the result of thermal analysis (TG/DTA). The newlinepowder X-ray diffraction (XRD) entrenched the formation of amorphous TiO2 and are newlineconverted to the tetragonal structure with anatase phase after calcination at lower newlinetemperatures. On increasing the calcination temperature, the anatase phase newlineirreversibly transformed to rutile phase and the transition temperature is found to be at newline800 oC. The metal oxide phase formation in pure and doped titanium dioxide newlinenanoparticles was established from the O-Ti-O stretching vibrational band appeared at newlinethe low wavenumber region in the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. Raman newlinespectra also confirmed the phase transition temperature. newline