No abstract

Bi3+ -TiO 2 photocatalysts were prepared by doping bismuth ion into the TiO 2 structure in a sol-gel process. The catalyst samples were then characterized by UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Rodamine-B (RhB) was used in this study as a model chemical with the aim of organic pollutants control. The photocatalytic degradation of RhB demonstrated that an optimal loading of bismuth 0.7 at. % achieved the highest photodegradation rate, with the rate constant increasing by a factor of 3.89 over neat TiO 2 (P25) under UV illumination (k ≥ 320 nm). The degradation of p-nitrobenzonic acid (pNBA) was also examined to prevent/preclude/exclude/ the photosensitization pathway. GC-MS results show that pNBA can be effectively degraded and minerized to small molecules, such as quinone, acetic acid and formic acid.