Synthesis of La:Co:TiO 2 Nanocomposite and Photocatalytic Degradation of Tartaric Acid in Water at Various Parameters

In this study, nanocomposites of La:Co:TiO 2 was prepared by the co-precipitation method. The alcoholic route of synthesis was adopted here which was gives greenish homogeneous powder of La:Co:TiO 2. The material was found in the nanodiamension by the SEM analysis. The rutile and anatase both phases were present in XRD analysis of the synthesized materials. The particle size was found 24 and 82 nm in case of La:Co:TiO 2 and pure Titania respectively. The surface area of Titania and La:Co:TiO 2 nanocomposites were found 6.4 and 43.2 m 2/g. The band gap energy of Titania and La:Co:TiO 2 nanocomposites were found 3.2 eV and 3.0 eV respectively. The photodegradation of Tartaric Acid was investigate at different parameters such as temperature, concentration, pH of reaction mixture, dose of photocatalyst and time of illumination of UV-Visible light. The photodegradation of Tartaric Acid occurs 60-80% in presence of Cobalt lanthanum modified Titania and in presence of neat Titania only 20-40% degradation was observed. It is found that photodegradation of Tartaric Acid follow the first order mechanism and its rate constant is become doubled when temperature is rise by 10°C.