Synthesis of vanadium-modified rutile TiO2 nanoparticle by reactive grinding method and its photocatalytic activity under solar light at room temperature

Rutile TiO2 was synthesized by sol–gel method. Vanadium-doped rutile TiO2 nanoparticle was obtained by reactive grinding method. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under solar light at room temperature. The results show that after 4 h of milling the particle size of rutile decreased from 130 to 14 nm and the Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) specific surface area increased from 7.18 to 15.12 m2 g−1. The vanadium doping promoted the particle growth and the particle size of vanadium-modified rutile TiO2 obtained by 4 h of milling is about 22 nm, but the BET specific surface area increased from 15.12 m2 g−1 for TiO2 to 20.8 m2 g−1 for vanadium-doped TiO2 under the same conditions. The 5% vanadium-doped rutile possessed better absorption ability of solar light; the calculated band gap energy value is 2.7 eV. The degradation rate of MB on vanadium-doped rutile TiO2 was higher than that of pure rutile obtained after the same time of milling.