Synthesis of V2O5-MgO/TiO2 mixed oxide nanocomposites for photocatalytic treatment of CO in vehicle exhaust emissions

Photocatalytic nanotechnology is one of the techniques that brings many new breakthroughs since it possesses high potential for the supply of clean energy and the degradation of persistent organic pollutants in the environment. The drawback of photocatalytic materials such as TiO2, ZnO, V2O5 is the activation only under ultraviolet light. To extend the applicability of photocatalytic nanomaterials to a visible light region, recent research has focused on the modification of semiconducting photocatalysts. In this study, V2O5-MgO/TiO2 mixed oxide nanocomposites were synthesised via a sol-gel method by using polyvinyl alcohol as a gelling agent. The basic structural characteristics of nanocomposites were determined by analytical techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), BET, energy dispersive x-ray (EDX), x-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy. The results obtained from EDX and XRD analyses indicate that V2O5 and MgO particles with a size between 14.5 and 21.3 nm were formed and uniformly dispersed in TiO2 phases. Moreover, the effects of oxide weight ratios, illuminating conditions and reaction time on the photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposites were investigated via CO conversion with the input CO concentrations of 8000 ppm. Significantly, the V2O5-MgO/TiO2 nanocomposites were used for treating CO in motorcycle exhaust fumes. The efficiency of the process reached 82% for 10 min, indicating the potential applicability of the V2O5-MgO/TiO2 nanocomposites for the CO treatment of industrial emissions.