Preparation, characteristics, and photocatalytic tests of fe-doped Tio2 films prepared by a sol-gel drain coating via homemade devices

Anatase Fe-doped TiO2 films, with the rang of iron to titanium (Fe(NO3)3 center dot 9H2O:Ti(OC4H9)4)) atomic ratios (RFe/Ti) from nominal 0 to 20%, are prepared by a sol-gel drain coating via homemade devices, and the hydrolysis reaction to derive sol is suppressed by adding an new agglomerating agent acetylacetic ether (EAcAc) to the system. The films are characterized by using thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), x-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet (UV)-visible absorbance spectra (UV-vis), and scanning electron microscope (SEM), together with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Furthermore, the photocatalytic activities are measured by photodegrading rhodamine B (RhB) in a cylindrical Pyrex reactor, the experimental details demonstrate that the Fe-doped TiO2 films (RFe/Ti=3.0%) show the most excellent photocatalytic perfomances, which is good accordance with UV-vis spectra.