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Fabrication of cobalt phthalocyanine-TiO2 with enhanced photocatalytic activity for the removal of MB dye

YUAN CAI1,2,* , LIXIN TANG3, YUNTAO WANG3,* , NING XU3,* , YULONG LI3, GUOWEI JI3

Affiliation

  1. Jiangsu Research and Development Center of Chemical Engineering Applying Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Nanjin g P olytechnic Institute , Nanjing 210048, P.R. China
  2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and State Key Laboratory of Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, P.R. China
  3. Jiangsu Research and Development Center of Chemical Engineering Applying Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Nanjin g P olytechnic Institute, Nanjing 210048, P.R. China

Abstract

Cobalt phthalocyanine dye (CoPc) sensitized TiO2 composites (CoPc/TiO2) with visible-light responses were synthesized employing ultrasonic immersing-hydrothermal sensitization method facilely. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron miscroscopy (TEM) were employed to visually observe the surface morphologies of the samples. We studied the visible-light response using UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and optical band gap calculations using the Tauc plot equation. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared CoPc/TiO2 composites were assessed in terms of the degradation rate of methylene blue (MB) solution under visible-light irradiation. The CoPc/TiO2 (1:3 mass ratio) composites achieved best enhancement of photocatalytic activity. When CoPc/TiO2 nanocomposites were applied for different photocatalytic degradation cycling times, the degradation rate of MB still reaches 74% which reflects the fact that CoPc/TiO2 composites have a high photostability in the photocatalytic process. When taking the decomposition rate and photoresponse into consideration, the possible connection action between CoPc and TiO2 and visible-light induced photocatalytic mechanism of contaminants degradation in the presence of CoPc/TiO2 nanoparticles were proposed. Potential bonding interaction between CoPc dye and TiO2 framework improves photogenerated electron-hole pair separation and facilitates photogenerated charge transfer, which gives access to the occurrence of degradation of hazardous materials..

Keywords

Cobalt phthalocyanine dye, Titanium dioxide, Band gap calculation, MB degradation.

Citation

YUAN CAI, LIXIN TANG, YUNTAO WANG, NING XU, YULONG LI, GUOWEI JI, Fabrication of cobalt phthalocyanine-TiO2 with enhanced photocatalytic activity for the removal of MB dye, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 9, 7-8, July-August 2015, pp.1014-1021 (2015).

Submitted at: April 7, 2015

Accepted at: June 24, 2015