Photodeposition-assisted synthesis of novel nanoparticulate In, S-codoped TiO2 powders with high visible light-driven photocatalytic activity

In order to search for an efficient photocatalysts working under visible light illumination, we have investigated the effect of metal and nonmetal ions (In, S) codoping on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) prepared by combining of sol–gel (SG) and photodeposition (PD) methods using titanium tetra isopropoxide (TTIP), indium nitrate (In(NO3)3) and thiourea as precursors. In this regard, at first three different percentage of S (0.05, 0.2 and 0.5) doped into the TiO2 by SG method, and then different amount of In(III) loaded on the surface of the prepared samples by PD technique. The results showed that the In, S-codoped TiO2 (In, S-TiO2) with a spheroidal shape demonstrates a smaller grain size than the pure TiO2. Meanwhile, the UV–vis DRS of In, S-TiO2 showed a considerable red shift to the visible region. Finally, the photocatalytic activity of In, S-TiO2 photocatalysts were evaluated by photooxidative degradation of methyl orange (MO) solution under UV and visible light illumination. As a result, it was found that 0.05%S-0.5%In/TiO2, 0.2%S-1.5%In/TiO2 and 0.5%S-0.5%In/TiO2 had the highest catalytic activity under visible light in each group and among these samples 0.2%S-1.5%In/TiO2 showed the best photocatalytic performance under visible light and decomposes more than 95% MO in only 90 min.