A green process for the synthesis of porous TiO 2 from ilmenite ore using molten salt alkali decomposition for photocatalytic applications

A new eco-friendly process for the synthesis of Fe-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles using ilmenite feedstocks has been investigated. The characterization and photocatalytic properties of synthesized TiO 2 nanoparticles have been presented. The effect of leaching process parameters on the separation of the impurities from TiO 2 is investigated. The TiO 2 obtained after the process consists of only Fe (∼5 ± 0.5 wt%) as the doping element, and the remaining elements are effectively separated from titania using this process. The microstructure analysis shows that the nanoparticles are in a spherical shape with agglomerations. XPS analysis shows that Ti is in the Ti 4+ valence state and Fe is in the Fe 3+ valence state which is incorporated in the TiO 2 lattice. BET analysis shows that the nanoparticles exhibit gel-like properties during the adsorption of N 2 . The band gap obtained from the UV vis analysis is calculated to be 2.75 eV which is very low compared to that of the reference sample (3.09 eV). A total of 92% of the methyl orange dye is effectively removed from the water while the reference sample shows only 68% degradation affinity under the same degradation conditions.