Exploration of photocatalytic performance of TiO2, 5% Ni/TiO2, and 5% Fe/TiO2 for degradation of eosine blue dye: Comparative study

Graphical abstract of the photoinduced degradation of the EB. [Display omitted] •Successful synthesis of TiO2, 5% Fe/TiO2, and 5% Ni/TiO2 nanocatalysts by CPT method.•XRD, SEM, EDS, TEM, XPS, and BET analyses were performed.•Enhanced photocatalytic activity of 5% Fe/TiO2 against EB dye.•Catalyst dose 0.8 g/L, pH 7, and dye concentration 20 ppm gives 96.45 % degradation.•Reusability experiment confirms the stability and recyclability performance. In the present investigation, the TiO2, 5 % Fe/TiO2, and 5 % Ni/TiO2 were successfully synthesized by the co-precipitation (CPT) method. The synthesized undoped and doped TiO2 nanomaterials were employed for photocatalytic degradation of eosine blue dye in the aqueous heterogeneous suspension. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analyses were performed to investigate the crystallinity, surface morphology, elemental composition, crystal lattice, chemical state of the elements, and surface area of the fabricated photocatalysts, respectively. XRD indicated that TiO2 nanoparticles are formed in the anatase phase. HR-TEM pictures clearly showed that synthesized material as a tetragonal anatase crystal lattice. The BET analysis revealed that 5 % Fe/TiO2 material has an enhanced surface area of 80.98 m2/g. The oxidation states of Fe3+ and Ni2+ were confirmed based on XPS investigation. The experimental parameters like nanocatalyst dosage, pH of the solution, initial concentration of dye, light intensity, and contact time were studied. The photocatalysis results revealed that dye removal in acidic pH was greater than in neutral and alkaline pH. Photocatalyst efficiency of dye degradation was found to be increased with the increase in nanocatalyst dose, light intensity, and contact time. The photo induced degradation (96.45 %) of eosine blue dye is more efficient at a minimum dose of 5 % Fe/TiO2 nanocatalyst (0.8 g/L) at the optimum conditions of pH 7.0, and contact time 110 min.