Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant aldicarb by non-metal-doped nanotitania: synthesis and characterization

Abstract

The current study focused on pollution control by titania through photocatalytic degradation of aldicarb pesticide in aqueous medium. Titania, which is an efficient photocatalyst, can bring about degradation of aqueous organic pollutants under UV and visible light irradiation. Here, we prepared titania by sol-gel method from titanium tetraisopropoxide and doped non-metals like N and S from sources such as urea and thiourea, respectively. The prepared catalyst was characterized by XRD, UV-Vis.DRS, TEM, XPS, etc. Photocatalytic activity of the catalyst was evaluated from extend of degradation of aldicarb pesticide by measuring its concentration with the help of HPLC. It was found that the modified catalyst showed better photocatalytic degradation than pure titania in visible light.