Sol-Gel to Prepare Nickel Doped TiO2 Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Treatment of E 131 VF Food Dye Wastewater

Sol–gel method was applied for synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles in the existence of different volumes of ethanol (10–50 mL) with the purpose to find optimized synthesis conditions. Also, nickel doped TiO2 nanoparticles (Ni/TiO2 molar ratio: 0.1-1.0%) were prepared by the similar technique but in the existence of 10 mL ethanol and heated at different temperatures (300 °C –600 °C). XRD, SEM/EDX, UV-Vis DRS, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy were applied to identify the structural and morphological characteristics of the as-synthesized samples. XR diffraction results verified that TiO2 samples prepared with various volumes of ethanol (10–50 mL) consist of anatase and brookite phases up to 500 °C and rutile phase at 600 °C. The intensity of brookite diffraction decreased with the increase of calcination temperatures. Also, the low ethanol volume favored for formation of rutile phase at 600 °C. The addition of Ni(II) during the preparation of TiO2 nanoparticles prevented the formation of rutile phase. The undoped samples were synthesized with 10 and 20 mL ethanol and treated at 500 °C displayed the best catalytic performance for photocatalytic treatment of E 131 VF dye solution (rate constant: 0.051 and 0.061 (a.u) respectively). Ni doped TiO2 samples displayed lower photoactivity and rate constant.