Synthesis, characterisation and application of copper modified brookite titania photocatalyst activated by visible light.

Brookite titania nanomaterials modified with Copper Nanoparticles (NPs) Cu-TiO2 were prepared in this research. Hydrothermal method was used to prepare Brookite Titania whiles, copper NPs were loaded on its surface by consecutive ion adsorption and photoreduction. The photocatalyst was characterised by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance Spectrum (UV-vis DRS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The photocatalytic activity of the prepared composite was also determined by photodecolorisation of organic pollutants under visible light. Crystal Violet dye (CV) was used as a model organic pollutant. The optimum loading ratio of Cu/Ti which resulted in the best photodecolorisation efficiency was also determined. The results revealed that the sample Cu-TiO2 (Cu/Ti = 2% molar ratio) with copper particle size of 3 nm had the best photocatalytic decolorisation efficiency of 98% after 50 min of irradiation under visible light. The decolorisation efficiency of the sample Cu-TiO2 (2%) was also higher than that of commercial P25 (38%).