Fractal Analysis of Doped Strontium Titanate Photocatalyst

Abstract

In this research, the doping of SrTiO3 with Mn4+ was performed in order to evaluate the potential application as a photocatalyst for the degradation of organic dye pollutants. Since photocatalytic activity depends on grain microstructure, fractal analysis was used to estimate the Hausdorff dimension to provide a more thorough investigation of Mn@SrTiO3 morphology. Structural analysis by infrared spectroscopy indicated the incorporation of Mn4+ into the SrTiO3 lattice, while by using x-ray diffraction, the crystallite size of 44 nm was determined. The photocatalytic activity test performed on complex ethyl violet organic dye revealed potential for Mn@SrTiO3 application in water treatment. Based on fractal regression analysis, a good estimate was obtained for the reconstruction of grain shape, with a Hasudorff dimension of 1.13679, which was used to find the best kinetics model for the photodegradation reaction. The experimental data showed a nearly linear fit with fractal-like pseudo-zero order. These findings and applications of fractal dimensions could contribute to future characterizations of photocatalysts, providing a deeper understanding of surface properties and their influence on photocatalytic activity.