Abstract
In this work, undoped and iron doped titania nanoparticles (Fe:TiO2 NPs) were successfully prepared by sol-gel route with two different Fe concentration (5 and 10 mol.%). The effects of Fe doping into TiO2 were thoroughly investigated by XRD, TEM, HRTEM, XPS, FTIR, Raman, UV-Visible spectroscopy and VSM. The obtained nanoparticles have narrow size distribution 41-49 nm and were recognized as anatase TiO2 structure with no signature of Fe cluster or iron oxides as analyzed by X-ray diffraction and Raman. The optical band gap of undoped and iron doped TiO2 NPs is red shifted with respect to the incorporation of iron content. Room temperature M-H loops revealed that all the samples showed a significant paramagnetic behaviour. The enhanced photocatalytic performance was observed for iron doped titania nanoparticles compared with pure TiO2 NPs in respect of methylene blue dye degradation in aqueous suspension under visible light illumination.