Enhanced visible-light-driven photodegradation of Acid Orange 7 azo dye in aqueous solution using Fe-N co-doped TiO2

FeN -co-doped TiO2 photocatalysts are prepared by sol–gel method using titanium tetraisopropoxide, urea and iron(II) acetylacetonate as precursors of titania, nitrogen and iron, respectively. The prepared samples are analysed from chemical-physical point of view by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–Vis DRS), specific surface area measurements and scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). UV–Vis DRS spectra evidence that the co-doping of TiO2 with N and Fe leads to the narrowing of the band gap value (2.7 eV) with respect to Fe-doped TiO2 (2.8 eV) and N-doped TiO2 (2.9–3 eV). XRD patterns show that photocatalysts are mainly in anatase phase and Fe and N ions are successfully incorporated into the TiO2 lattice. The average crystallite size of Fe-N co-doped TiO2 is slightly lower than the other samples and equal to about 7 nm and the specific surface area of the co-doped sample results to be 117 m2 g−1. Photocatalytic performances of all prepared samples are evaluated by analysing the degradation of Acid Orange 7 azo dye under visible light irradiation. Photocatalytic efficiency obtained using FeN co-doped TiO2 strongly increases compared to undoped TiO2, N-doped TiO2 and Fe-doped TiO2 photocatalysts. In detail, using the co-doped photocatalyst, dye discoloration and mineralization result equal to about 90 and 83% after 60 min of LEDs visible light irradiation, underlining the best performances of the FeN co-doped TiO2 photocatalyst both in terms of treatment time and electric energy consumption.