Synthesis, Structural and Optical Properties of Co Doped TiO2 Nanocrystals by Sol-Gel Method

A TiO2 nanoparticle doped with cobalt was synthesized by sol-gel technique employed at room temperature with appropriate reactants. In the present case, we used titanium tetra isoprotoxide (TTIP) and 2–propanol as a common starting material and the obtained products were calcined at 450˚ C. From the Powder XRD data the particle size was calculated by Scherrer method. The FE-SEM analysis shows the morphology of cobalt doped TiO2 nanoparticles. The various functional groups of the samples were identified by Fourier transform spectroscopy (FT-IR). The UV-Vis-NIR spectra of cobalt doped TiO2 material shows two absorption peaks in the visible region related to d-d transitions of Co2+ in TiO2 lattice. Compared to un-doped TiO2 nanoparticles, the cobalt doped material show a red shift in the band gap.