Improving the Photo-catalytic Efficiency of TiO2 by Incorporation of Cobalt for Removal of Micropollutants from Wastewater

The research focuses on the fabrication and use of Co-doped titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanocrystals for efficient industrial wastewater treatment, specifically improving photocatalytic destruction of methylene blue (MB). The crystal structure, including phase identification, crystalline size, texture, stress, and strain, has been verified by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The average crystallite size of nanocrystals decreased from 65.69 nm to 32.62 nm with the incorporation of 9% Co into the TiO2 crystal lattice. The presence of Ti-O and C=O functional groups in the FTIR spectra shows the successful doping of Co. The optical band gap reduced from 3.39 eV for undoped TiO2 to 3.06 eV for 9 % Co-doped TiO2, as confirmed by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was studied utilizing the degradation of methylene blue as a model substance. Which was substantially increased from 5.86% for pure TiO2 to 23.01% for Co-0.9%, with a rate constant of 2.17 x 10-3 min-1. This study shows that Co-doped TiO₂ is a viable substance for wastewater management, and offers an efficient and sustainable technique for degrading MB under ambient circumstances.