Synthesis and Characterization of Cu-Doped Zirconium Titanate as A Potential Visible-Light Responsive Photocatalyst

Katarina Rachma Andita (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sekip Utara, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia)
Rian Kurniawan (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sekip Utara, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia)
Akhmad Syoufian (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sekip Utara, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia)

Indonesian Journal of Chemistry
Vol 19, No 3 (2019)

Synthesis and characterization of Cu-doped zirconium titanateas a potential visible-light responsive photocatalyst had been conducted. Titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) was used as a precursor of Ti source, reacted to ZrO2 powderand CuSO4·5H2O with various Cu concentrations of 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9% (w/w) by sol-gel method. Zirconium titanate with Cu concentration of 5% was calcined at various temperatures of 500, 700 and 900 °C. All materials were characterized by using XRD, FTIR, SRUV, and SEM-EDX. The characterization proved that the materials were potential as a model of visible-light responsive photocatalyst. Composite with optimum bandgap energy (Eg) was obtained at 5% Cu content after 500 °C with an absorption edge wavelength of 431.93 nm and the bandgap of 2.87 eV.