Photocatalytic Degradation of 4-chlorophenol by CuMoO4-doped TiO2 Nanoparticles Synthesized by Chemical Route

The photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) in aqueous solution was studied using Cu-MoO4- doped TiO2 nanoparticles under Visible light radiation. The photocatalysts were synthesized by chemical route from TiO2 with different concentration of CuMoO4 (CuxMoxTi1-xO6; where, x values ranged from 0.05 to 0.5). The prepared nanoparticles are characterized by XRD, BET surface area, TEM, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, Raman spectroscopy, XPS and EDAX spectroscopy were used to investigate the nanoparticles structure, size distribution, and qualitative elemental analysis of the composition. The CuxMoxTi1-xO6 (x = 0.05) showed high activity for degradation of 4-CP under visible light. The surface area of the catalyst was found to be 101 m2/g. The photodegradation process was optimized by using CuxMoxTi1-xO6 (x = 0.05) catalyst at a concentration level of 1 g/l. A maximum photocatalytic efficiency of 96.9% was reached at pH = 9 after irradiation for 3 hours. Parameters affecting the photocatalytic process such as catalyst loading, concentration of the catalyst and the dopant concentration, solution pH, and concentration of 4-CP have been investigated.