A SIMPLEROUTE SYNTHESIS OF POLYCRYSTALLINE TiO2-Ag BY THE SONOCHEMICAL METHOD FOR PHOTOCATALYTIC DIRECT BLUE71 DEGRADATION

In this paper, silver-doped titania (TiO2-Ag) powders have been synthesized with Ag variants using a simple sonochemical method. The prepared samples were identified using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate the crystal structure and morphology, respectively. All samples showed the polycrystalline anatase phase and the plane exhibited the (101) dominant orientation. The smallest crystallite sample size of about 14.9 nm was obtained with a 3% Ag doping (TAg3). At higher Ag concentrations, the metal peaks could be detected at 44.3° and 64.4°. SEM images showed that all samples were agglomerated except the TAg3 sample with the lowest surface area of the active sites. Photocatalytic activity was carried out using Direct Blue 71 (DB71) as an organic pollutant. TAg4 exhibited the highest activity under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation with a degradation rate of 0.01 ppm/min. Results suggest that our TiO2-Ag photocatalyst performed well when prepared by a simple sonochemical method.