Resin-gel incorporation of high concentrations of W and Zn into TiO-anatase crystal to form quaternary mixed-metal oxides: effect on the lattice parameter and photodegradation efficiency.

The search for a viable photocatalyst for water remediation is ongoing and in recent times the efforts have predominantly focused on improving the limitations of the TiO photocatalyst. This paper reports a dual strategy for improving the photocatalytic properties of TiO. The first strategy is to dope up to 30% of W and Zn into the crystal lattice of TiO using the resin gel technique to synthesize quaternary mixed metal oxides (QMMOs). It was demonstrated by laser Raman spectroscopy, PXRD and various other strategies, including dislodging the dopants from the crystal lattice of TiO, that these materials were successfully synthesized. More importantly, UV-DRS showed that these materials could absorb visible light. TiO and the QMMOs were also supported on 10% NCNTs synthesized from coal fly ash, by slightly modifying the resin gel technique. It was observed from TEM images that the NCNTs were uniformly coated with TiO and QMMO nanoparticles. These composites were observed to have lower photoluminescence emission spectra when compared to neat TiO and unsupported QMMOs. The two-part strategy employed in this project worked as the QMMOs supported on 10% NCNTs had higher visible light photodegradation efficiencies compared to neat TiO and the unsupported QMMOs.