Sunlight Active (CoTiO3) – Titania (TiO2) Catalyst with Effective Activity for Dye Degradation and H+ Evolution

In the presented work we display experimental evidence of the effective photocatalytic activity of (CoTiO3) – Titania (TiO2) for dye degradation and H+ evolution. We present analysis of the photo catalytic activity of the CoTiO3 that is 50-92 times effective than TiO2 under visible light to Acid Orange 7 dye. At the same time the catalyst can produce 78 times more hydrogen than pure TiO2. The results show that there is a co-catalytic effect among the substrate (TiO2-rutile) and the CoTiO3. The chemical composition, phases and frameworks are investigated due to their critical effects on the high degree of degradation observed on this catalyst. The particles have sizes above 100 nm to near micro-metric rages. This allows the potential to eliminate quantum confinement effects as the effective mechanism for rather unique catalytic activity. Instead, here we propose a new mechanism based on double harmonic effect on photo‐catalytic enhancement for dye degradation and strong field and Plasmonic effect for hydrogen generation. The results are based on the characterization of the catalysts by means of XRD, Raman, SEM and HRTEM. Band gap of all photo-catalysts used is reported, that commensurate with the unprecedented photo-catalytic activity of the materials. We present synthesis and experimental procedures, thorough characterization of the CoTiO3 and detailed quantitative analysis of dye degradation and Hydrogen generation.