Effect of Mg and Cu co-doping on nanostructured TiO2 photocatalytic activity

Mg 2+ and Cu 2+ codoped TiO 2 nanostructures (Mg/Cu–Ti) were synthesized using the co-precipitation process and were annealed in air for two hours. We tried in this work to investigate how annealing temperature affects physical, morphological, optical, and photocatalytic properties. With increasing annealing temperature, X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed that Mg/Cu–Ti nanostructures maintain the anatase hexagonal crystal structure (space group I41/amd). The average crystallite size grows with higher annealing temperatures, and the sample's morphology becomes more porous. Based on the Kubelka–Munk equation, the band gap widens as the temperature rises. The photocatalytic activity of the nanoparticles was assessed through the photodegradation of MB dye. It was found that annealing notably enhances the photodegradation efficiency. The experimental results showed that changing the annealing temperature might significantly alter the characteristic of Mg/Cu co-doped Mg/Cu–Ti nanostructures.