A modified sol-gel method was developed for the synthesis of pure and transition-metal-doped titanium dioxide. The process involves the hydrolysis of titanium tetraisopropoxide, which was used as a catalyst precursor, and molybdenum chloride, which was used as a doping agent. The shape and size of the final product were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, and the catalyst activity for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solutions was tested. The results indicate significant improvements in both the morphology and performance of the catalyst synthesized by the proposed method when compared to those obtained via the conventional approach using the same materials and quantities.•The main highlights of the proposed method are as follows.•Utilization of a double-jacketed cooling system to control and prevent temperature fluctuations during hydrolysis.•Ultrasonication during the reaction minimizes particle agglomeration during nanoparticle formation.•The use of two different alcohols and separation into two mixtures were experimentally demonstrated to delay gel formation, and hence, morphologically homogeneous catalyst nanoparticles were achieved.
Keywords: Modified sol-gel method; Molybdenum doping; Photocatalysis; Titanium dioxide.
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.