Improving the photocatalytic performance of cobalt-doped titania nanosheets by induced oxygen vacancies for efficient degradation of organic pollutants

Photocatalytic degradation using Co3O4-TiO2-based catalysts has shown promising results in removing organic and inorganic pollutants under UV light. Introducing defects is believed to increase the charge carrier mobility and the coordinatively active sites that are usually also catalytically active sites, leading to improvement of the catalytic performance. In this work, a nanostructure based on interconnected cobalt-doped titanium dioxide thin nanosheets has been carefully designed. We engineered defects in the oxygen sites by partial carbothermal reduction, which enhanced the photocatalytic performance of the prepared nanostructure. The degradation of methyl orange as a model for organic pollutants was studied. The results proved that the designed photocatalyst could remove methyl orange fully under UV light within a few minutes and an initial concentration of up to 200 mg/l.