OICC Press Journal of Nanostructure in Chemistry 2193-8865 6 1 (March 2016) 2015 11 23 Surface investigation and catalytic activity of iron-modified TiO2 10.1007/s40097-015-0182-x EN Somayeh Sohrabi Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, IR Faranak Akhlaghian Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, IR Journal Article 2015 11 23 Abstract Iron-modified titanium dioxide nanostructured catalyst was synthesized by sol–gel method. Due to the important impacts of surface properties on the catalytic activity, the catalyst surface is investigated. To have a complete characterization of the catalyst, TEM, SEM, XPS, XRF, XRD, BET, and TGA–DTA techniques were used. XRF analysis reveals the iron loading of the synthesized catalyst as Fe 2 O 3 /TiO 2  = 0.21 %. XRD results imply that the catalyst is composed of anatase and rutile phases. The SEM image indicates the mesoporousity of the nanoparticles. Clusters are observable in the TEM images. The main objective of activity tests is focused upon the comparative evaluation of H 2 O 2 addition and the application of air bubbling. Experimental results specified that the optimum amount for H 2 O 2 dosage is 12.5 ml. Moreover, it has been observed that an increase in the aeration flow rate shows a positive effect on the degradation of phenol and the optimum aeration flow is 9 l/min. Furthermore, it has been shown that the addition of copper as additive ion to phenol solution boosts the degradation of phenol; the highest phenol degradation efficiency after 120 min (43.85 %) was attained under this condition.