Environmentally effective photocatalyst CoO-TiO sub(2) synthesized by thermal precipitation of Co in amorphous TiO sub(2)

We report the enhanced photocatalytic activity of TiO sub(2) by the surface decoration of CoO nanoparticles to degrade paraoxon. The CoO nanoparticles are precipitated in situ during heat treatments of Co doped amorphous TiO sub(2) and enhance the degradation by 11-24 times that of pure TiO sub(2) or Rh sub(2)O sub(3)-TiO sub(2 ) or the oxide nanoparticles under white light (natural sunlight and fluorescence light). The enhanced activity is a combined result of visible light absorption by CoO and effective electron-hole separation at the CoO-TiO sub(2) interfaces.