Innovative W-doped titanium dioxide anchored on clay for photocatalytic removal of atrazine

• Published in: Catalysis today Vol. 280; pp. 21 - 28
• Main Authors: Belver, C., Han, C., Rodriguez, J.J., Dionysiou, D.D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.02.2017
• Subjects: Atrazine removal; Novel clay-derived heterostructures; Solar photocatalysis; W-doped TiO2; Solar photocatalysis; Atrazine removal; W-doped TiO2; Novel clay-derived heterostructures
• ISSN: 0920-5861; 1873-4308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cattod.2016.04.029

[Display omitted] •Innovative W-doped TiO2/clay heterostructures were synthesized•W-TiO2 nanoparticles of 13–16nm were anchored on Cloisite 30B.•W doping was incorporated into the anatase phase.•W doping enhanced the photoresponse of catalysts to visible region.•High photocatalytic performance of atrazine was achieved under solar light. Innovative W-TiO2/clay photocatalysts were successfully synthesized by a facile sol-gel method using different W dopant concentrations (0.5, 2 and 5M%). The obtained photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, XPS, textural analysis and DRS-UV–vis spectroscopy. The W-TiO2/clay photocatalysts have TiO2 as anatase phase, where W dopant caused the increase of its crystal size and the distortion of its lattice, due to W substitution of Ti ions. W dopant also modified the electronic properties of anatase, resulting in moderately narrower band gap of photocatalysts. Photocatalytic activity measurements showed that W-TiO2/clay catalyst with 5% of W possed the best photocatalytic performance for the removal of atrazine under solar light compared to un-doped TiO2/clay, which was explained by the presence of W ions in the TiO2 structure. The relevance of W doping on the photocatalytic performance of these photocatalysts was also corroborated studying the activity under visible light.