Abstract

Effects of acidic and basic hydrolysis catalysts on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2

Author(s): F.Mast Ali Khan Tehrani, A.Nemati, M.Rashidzadeh, A.Irandoukht

In this paper, the effects of catalystsÂ’properties on the photocatalytic activity behavior of TiO2 were studied. In this regards; Titania nano particles with high photocatalytic activitywere prepared fromtitaniumalkoxide dissolved in alcohol and water under acidic conditions. The properties of the powderswere investigated by powderXRD,Brunauner-Emmett-Teller (BET) method and Zeta sizer. The photocatalytic activities of the TiO2 nano particles were assessed by the degradation of Methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the product had anatase crystal structure with crystallite size below 10nm.According to the obtained results, the kinetics of photocatalytic reaction followed pseudofirst- order model. Particle size analysis showed that the mean particle size were 15 and 128nm. The chemical mechanism was discussed in relation to the sol-gel transition, which provides a possible theoretic explanation to the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nano particles. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity TiO2 nano particles strongly depended on the type of stabilizer and presence ofMethylcellulose (MC).