The synthesis of titanium dioxide (TiO2) NPs was carried using the sol–gel method. TiO2 NPs were prepared according to the procedure described by Noorimotlagh et al. [39 (link)]. Briefly, 2-propanol solution was added drop wise in TTIP solution under continuous stirring (solution A). Then, for TiO2 doping with ZnO and Fe2O3, a specific amount of ZnO and Fe2O3 NPs with 0.02% ratio was added in 40 mL deionized water (solution B). Afterward, addition of solution B to A was carried out in drop wise under continuous stirring to produce the TiO2–FeZn NPs in gel form. Then, the gel was centrifuged, rinsed with deionized water, kept in an oven, ground and annealed in a muffle furnace (FP125 model) at 450 °C during 4 h. The experimental equipment applied to characterization of TiO2–FeZn nanocatalyst properties is shown in Table 1.

Experimental equipment applied to characterize properties of TiO2–FeZn NPs nanocatalyst

MethodEquipment modelApplication
SEMaTescan, Mira3, Czech RepublicDetermination of morphological properties of synthesized NPs
XRDbPhilips Xpert diffractometerDetermination of the crystalline structure of the synthesized NPs
EDXcPHILIPS, XL-30, NetherlandsDetermination of the elemental composition of synthesized NPs
FT-IRdSt-Jeam Baptiste Bomem 450Determination of the functional groups of synthesized NPs
BETeBET- Micromeritics Tristar 3000Determination of the specific surface area of synthesized NPs

aField emission scanning electron microscope

bX–ray diffraction pattern

cEnergy–dispersive X-ray spectroscopy

dFourier transform infrared spectrometer

eBrunauer–Emmett–Teller method