Immobilization of visible light-sensitive (N, Cu) co-doped TiO 2 onto rectorite for photocatalytic degradation of p- chlorophenol in aqueous solution

Abstract To further enhance the photocatalytic properties of doped-TiO 2 , a series of (N, Cu) co-doped TiO 2 /rectorite composites with different amount of N doping were prepared for adsorption and catalytic oxidation of p -chlorophenol ( p -CP) under visible light. The physicochemical properties of the obtained composites were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), etc. The results showed that the (N, Cu) co-doped TiO 2 catalyst was immobilized well onto rectorite, and the doping of N and Cu could affect the crystal structure of TiO 2 . The optimal N doping amount was determined by the photocatalytic degradation of p -CP in a stirred quartz reactor under visible light (> 420 nm) irradiation. It was found that the doping of N can improve significantly the degradation of p -CP and the optimum N doping amount is 1.0%. The adsorption of p -CP by the composites could accelerate the degradation rate of p -CP in situ. The photocatalytic activity of the (N, Cu) co-doped TiO 2 /rectorite composites remained stable after five cycles of photoreaction. A possible mechanism for the photocatalytic degradation of p -CP is proposed. Our work implied that rectorite has great potential to be applied in the field of photocatalysis.