Abstract
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the most effective photocatalysts for low-cost degradation of organic pollutant; however, the wide band gap and the high recombination rate of the charge carriers are drawbacks that hinders it practical application. In this study, TiO2 and titanium mixed metal oxides ternary (V/Ag/TiO2) nanocatalyst was synthesized through a microwave-assisted sol–gel route using Ti (C4H9O)4, NH4VO3, and AgNO3 as precursors. The XRD analysis of the synthesized TiO2 and V/Ag/TiO2 depicts lattice fringes for rutile and anatase crystalline phases. Raman spectra indicate the formation of a mesoporous multiphase sample mixture of rutile and anatase phases. The spectrum shift to the visible light region was demonstrated by the UV-visible spectroscopy analysis. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) reveals a reduced band gap of 2.9 eV for TiO2 and 2.65 eV for V/Ag/TiO2. Brunauer– Emmett–Teller (BET) indicates a large surface area of 92.8 and 84.8m2 g−1 for TiO2 and V/Ag/TiO2, respectively...