Photocatalytic Degradation of Nitrobenzene Using Nanocrystalline TiO2 Photocatalyst Doped with Zn Ions

Abstract Photocatalysis is a method widely used in the degradation of organic pollutants of the environment. The development of new materials is very important to improve the photocatalytic properties and to find new applications for TiO2 as a photocatalyst. In this article we reported the synthesis of a photocatalyst based on TiO2 doped with Zn²+ ions highly efficient in the degradation of nitrobenzene. The results of photocatalytic activity experiments showed that the Zn²+ doped TiO2 is more active than un-doped TiO2 catalyst with an efficiency of 99% for the nitrobenzene degradation at 120 min with an apparent rate constant of 35 × 10-3 min-1.