Degradation of propanol diluted in water under visible light irradiation using metal ion-implanted titanium dioxide photocatalysts

The metal ion-implantation of titanium dioxide (TiO2) with metal ions (V+, Mn+, Fe+) at high energy acceleration and the subsequent calcination of these metal ion-implanted TiO2 in oxygen at around 725 K resulted in a definite shift in the absorption spectra toward visible light regions. These catalysts exhibited photocatalytic reactivity for degradation of 2-propanol diluted in water under visible light irradiation (λ>450 nm). XAFS studies have revealed that the implanted metal ions are located at the lattice positions of Ti4+ in TiO2 after the calcination. These spectroscopic studies show that the substitution of Ti ions in TiO2 lattice with implanted metal ions is important to modify TiO2 to be able to adsorb visible light and operate as photocatalysts under visible light irradiation.