Photocatalytic activity of TiO2 doped with boron and vanadium

Boron (B)- and vanadium (V)-doped TiO2 photocatalysts were synthesized using modified sol-gel reaction processes and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and N-2 physisorption (BET). The photocatalytic activities were evaluated by monitoring the degradation of methylene blue (MB). The results showed that the materials possess high surface area. The addition of B favored the transformation of anatase to rutile, while in the presence of V, anatase was the only phase detected. The MB degradation on V-doped TiO2 was significantly affected by the preparation method. In fact while the presence of V in the bulk did not influence strongly the photoreactivity under visible irradiation, an increase of surface V doping lead to improved photodegradation of MB. The degradation of MB dye indicated that the photocatalytic activities of TiO2 increased as the boron doping increased, with high conversion efficiency for 9 mol% B doping.