Photodegradation of an azo dye by silver-doped nano-particulate titanium dioxide.

The synthesis of silver doped nano-particulate titanium dioxide (Ag/TiO2) using a microemulsion method and an investigation of its photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Acid Red 27 in distilled water under UV-irradiation is reported. The prepared Ag/TiO2 is characterized using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The size of the Ag nanoparticles is around 5–15 nm, with almost uniform distribution on the TiO2 particles. The efficiency of the photocatalytic process is evaluated to establish the optimum conditions, found to be at 2 wt% of Ag loading on TiO2, catalyst dosage of 400 mg L−1, and calcination temperature of 300°C. Complete decolorization of the dye solution on Ag/TiO2 was observed in 20 min of UV irradiation in the optimum conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]