Enhancement in the visible light induced photocatalytic and antibacterial properties of titanium dioxide codoped with cobalt and sulfur

Abstract

In this study, the sol-gel technique was used to develop Cobalt Sulfur codoped Titanium Dioxide (Co-S codoped TiO₂) photocatalysts. For structural analysis of the prepared resultant TiO₂ samples, XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis DRS, SEM, HR-TEM and EDX measurements were used to describe the produced photocatalysts. The characterization findings indicate that the synthesized nanoparticles possessed great crystallinity, high purity, and superior optical characteristics. For the methylene blue (MB) degradation process, Co-S codoped TiO₂ nanoparticles were tested for their photocatalytic degradation performance. The Co-S codoped TiO₂ nanoparticles had improved catalytic activity when compared with pure, Co-doped, S-doped TiO₂ and decomposed 93% of MB in 120 min. When compared to pure and doped TiO₂, the catalysts of Co-S codoped TiO₂ showed a synergistic effect and improved the performance of the catalysts. Furthermore, the antibacterial applications of synthesized Co-S codoped TiO₂ nanoparticles was studied against E. coli (Gram negative) and S. aureus (Gram positive) bacteria and exhibited strong antibacterial activity against the selected strains.

Keywords: Codoped TiO(2); Methylene blue; Optical properties; Photocatalyst; Sol-gel techniques.