Titanium dioxide materials as active photocatalysts in ibuprofen removal from aqueous arrays, through environmentally friendly technologies

Abstract

Self-doped carbon mesoporous titanium dioxide nanoparticles were synthesized using an environment-friendly synthesis method. The materials were characterized with different techniques, including solid depth studies using XPS. These made it possible to elucidate advances on the nature of the carbon species responsible for the photosensitivity of materials, being able to distinguish between the surface carbon and the carbon that is part of the titania matrix. The effect of calcination was studied in terms of the response of solids to LED visible light, to degrade ibuprofen (IBU) in aqueous solutions. The highest degradation was achieved using the photocatalyst carbon self-doped and treated at 200 °C. It was proposed that the generation of new electronic states, responsible for reducing the forbidden band of TiO₂, due to the presence of carbon in different sites in the network, is responsible for this behavior.