Adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of dye contaminants in wastewater over W-doped titania nanotubes

Background: In recent years, the degradation of dye contaminants discharged from industrial operations is considered a top priority in the environmental science and engineering field.Methods: In this study, tungsten (W) doped titania nanotubes (TNs) were synthesized to advance their reactivity towards the degradation of basic violet 10 (BV10), acid blue 9 (AB9), acid orange 7 (AO7), and acid red 1 (AR1) under UV radiation.Significant findings: The specific surface area of the W-TNs was 242.6 m2 /g. The XPS spectra presented peaks positioned at 35.5 and 37.6 eV endorsing the W6+ species, conforming to W 4f7/2 and 4f5/2, respectively. The reaction kinetics indicated that BV10, AB9, AO7, and AR1 photodegradation were all two-step reactions with rate constants being BV10: k1 / k2= 31 min-1, AB9: k1 / k2= 2 min-1, AO7: k1 / k2= 1 min-1, and AR1: k1/ k2= 3 min-1. The optimum photocatalytic efficacies for BV10 (49.77%, AB9 (14.95%), AO7 (2.12% and AR1 (0.54%) were acquired using W-doped TNs.