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Highly efficient visible-driven reduction of Cr(VI) by a novel black TiO2 photocatalyst

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Abstract

Finding a facile and practical method to produce black TiO2 remains a challenge. Bismuth-vanadium co-doped black TiO2 (BVBT) was synthesized as a visible light driven photocatalyst by a simple one-pot hydrothermal method. The synthesized BVBT was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). The light absorption of the synthesized Bi-V co-coped black TiO2 nanoparticles was significantly improved in the visible and infrared regions. The XRD patterns indicated that the black TiO2 contained mixed phases of brookite, anatase, and rutile of TiO2. This was further confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the sample was evaluated by reduction of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) under visible light irradiation. Among investigated hole (h+) scavengers, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) led to the highest reduction of Cr(VI) with a molar ratio of 1:5 (EDTA:Cr(VI)). The results indicated that the Bi-V co-coped black TiO2 nanocomposite can reduce 94% of 1 mg/L of Cr(VI) within 20 min irradiation time (pH 3 and catalyst dose of 1 g/L). Introducing a simple method to synthesize black TiO2 which has absorption in the visible and infrared region can open up new applications.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Research Coucil of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences for the financial assistance. The authors also would like to acknowledge the support of South African Global Excellence and Stature (GES) and the Centre for High-Performance Computing (CHPC), South Africa.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Research Council of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (Grant Number: 980349, Ethical Code: IR.KUMS.REC.1398.438).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy, Sensors and Multifunctional Nanomaterials Research Group, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein, Johannesburg, 2028, South Africa

    Rokhsareh Akbarzadeh

  2. Substance Abuse Prevention Research Center, Health Institute, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

    Negin Farhadian

  3. Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Health Institute, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

    Anvar Asadi

  4. Students Research Committee, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

    Tahereh Hasani

  5. Shahid Beheshti Medical Education Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

    Setaya Salehi Morovat

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  1. Rokhsareh Akbarzadeh
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  2. Negin Farhadian
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  3. Anvar Asadi
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  4. Tahereh Hasani
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  5. Setaya Salehi Morovat
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Contributions

A Asadi: supervision, conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing—original draft, formal analysis, validation, writing—review and editing, project administration. R. Akbarzadeh: conceptualization, methodology, synthesis, data curation, formal analysis, writing—original draft. N Farhadian: writing—original draft, formal analysis, validation, writing—review and editing. T hasani: data curation, experimental work. S Salehi Morovat: writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Anvar Asadi.

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This work was performed under the Ethical Code IR.KUMS.REC.1398.438.

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Akbarzadeh, R., Farhadian, N., Asadi, A. et al. Highly efficient visible-driven reduction of Cr(VI) by a novel black TiO2 photocatalyst. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 9417–9429 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11330-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11330-w

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