Visible light-active iron-doped anatase nanocrystallites and their self-cleaning property

To extend and improve photocatalytic activity of TiO2 in UV-visible region and reduce electron-hole recombination, Fe3+ doped anatase nanocrystallites were synthesized by a sol-gel process in an aqueous solution at a temperature of 60 oC with the addition of Fe3+ dopant. The Fe3+ dopant with various doping level was investigated. Superior self-cleaning performance was achieved for the optimal doped anatase nanocrystals when compared to that of the pure TiO2 through the evaluation of colorant decomposition, the degradation of a coffee stain, and a red wine stain under UV and visible light irradiation. The study demonstrated that it is feasible to apply Fe3+ doped anatase nanocrystallites to materials with low thermal resistance, such as textiles and other biomaterials as the doped anatase nanocrystals were formed during the sol-gel process without the need of any post-thermal treatment and the use of aqueous based sol-gel process instead of previously reported solvent-based ones is more environmentally friendly and suitable for large-scale fabrication.