Synthesis of iron-doped zirconium titanate as a potential visible-light responsive photocatalyst

Abstract

Synthesis and characterization of iron-doped zirconium titanate (ZrTiO 4 ) as a potential visible-light-responsive photocatalyst had been conducted. Various iron dopant concentrations and calcination temperature were investigated toward the properties of Fe-doped ZrTiO 4 . The photocatalyst material was synthesized by sol-gel and impregnation method. Titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) was used as a precursor, embedded on zirconia fine powder. A certain amount of iron (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 wt.%) was introduced into the photocatalyst system from iron(II) sulfate heptahydrate (FeSO 4 ·7H 2 O). Photocatalyst with various iron concentrations was calcined at 500 °C. ZrTiO 4 with 5% iron was calcined at 700 and 900 °C. Characterization was performed by using XRD, FT-IR, SR-UV, and SEM-EDX. The presence of iron on the surface of ZrTiO 4 was proved by EDX analysis. Fe-doped ZrTiO 4 with the lowest bandgap (2.83 eV) is 7% of iron content after calcination at 500 °C.