Synthesis of Nanostructured Copper-doped Titania and Its Properties.

Nanostructured pure-TiO₂ and Cu3%-TiO₂ were successfully synthesized via co-precipitation method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) result proves that the synthesized sample were predominantly in anatase phase with size in the range of 8~16 nm, which are in good agreement with the transmission electron microscopy data. Owing to doping of copper, not only did the thermal stability of the TiO₂ decrease, but also a significant decrease in its particle size and a shift of the adsorption edge to a higher wavelength region appear. The activity of both pure-TiO₂ and Cu3%-doped TiO₂ was tested to study their ability to decolorize congo red (CR) dye in aqueous solution. We observed that the CR dye was decolorized faster by Cu3%-TiO₂ than pure-TiO₂. Results of this study demonstrate a potential application of the synthesized sample for decolorizing dye pollutants from aqueous waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]