Titanium dioxide - activated carbon composite for photoelectrochemical degradation of phenol

In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) and – activated carbon composite (TiO2–AC) were prepared by sol-gel method for photoelectrochemical (PEC) applications. Characterization of the materials was performed scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The results show that TiO2 successfully loaded on (AC), producing TiO2–AC with 2.61 eV bandgap energy, lower than (3.15 eV). Photoanodes based fabricated applied to PEC experiments phenol degradation. comparison photoanode, one exhibited superior photocatalytic activity, which indicated a high current density effective removal. A mechanism degradation photoanode proposed, includes interaction between protonated active sites bearing oxygen surface. kinetic model according also established fitted experimental findings, resulting in rate constants elementary reactions.