Highly Efficient Nanostructured TiO2@carbon Thin Film for Photocatalytic Degradation and Environmental Remediation: A Green Approach

Abstract

The simple Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) technique was used to create nanostructured TiO2@carbon thin films (TCTF) with improved photocatalytic properties. This research reports the modification of titanium dioxide using coconut husk fibre carbon. The first sol-gel method for the comparative low-temperature carbonization and acid digestion of coconut husk fibres has been suggested for the synthesis of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) and their composite with TiO2. The microsphere-structured TiO2@carbon thin films were created by simply regulating the deposition process parameters. The morphology exhibits a strong correlation with the methyl orange (MO) photodegradation efficacy of TCTF as well. This discovery offers a suitable method for engineering the energetic and interfacial characteristics of TCTF to improve semiconductor photocatalytic performance. The anatase structure of the TCTF is visible in XRD. According to HR-TEM, TiO2@carbon nanocomposite (TCNCS) is prepared with a dimension of 10-15 nm. The Ti-O-Ti is strongly absorbed between 500 and 800 cm-1 in both TiO2 and the mixture, as shown by the FT-IR spectra. It can be seen from DRS spectra that the bandgap energy (Eg) of TCNCS decreases significantly (3.05 eV). TCTF is composed of microspheres of various sizes and a smooth surface, according to FE-SEM images. Only Ti, C, and O are visible in the EDS result, demonstrating the great purity of the TCNCS made using this technique. Methyl orange (MO) degradation under UV light exposure was used to assess the photocatalytic activity of the TCNCS. The rate constant for TCNCS is greater than TiO2, and the photocatalytic degradation is observed to be pseudo-firstorder.