Visible light photocatalytic activity of rutile TiO2 fiber clusters in the degradation of terephthalic acid

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Vol. 120; no. 3; pp. 967 - 976
• Main Authors: Yener, H. Banu, Helvacı, Şerife Ş.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-09-2015
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Machines; Manufacturing; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; TiO2 Particle; Rutile; TiCl4; Photocatalytic Activity; TiO2
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-015-9263-4

Rutile TiO
2
nanoparticles, in different structural and morphological properties, were produced by the hydrolysis of titanium tetrachloride in a highly acidic reaction media at moderate temperatures without calcination. Their photocatalytic activities were investigated in the liquid-phase degradation of terephthalic acid under visible light illumination. The parameters, which are the concentration of the titanium tetrachloride solution (0.1–1 M) and reaction temperature (60–95 °C), effective on the properties of the particles, and their photocatalytic performances, were investigated. The XRD patterns indicated a pure rutile crystal structure at moderate temperatures without need of calcination. The FEGSEM images showed the formation of flower-, pinecone-, and sphere-like clusters consisting of interconnected nanofibers. The N
2
adsorption–desorption isotherms pointed out the microporous structure of the clusters. Band gap energies were found to be varying between 3.02 and 3.08 eV due to the well-developed rutile crystallite structure. Systematic studies elucidated that the optimum reactant concentration and reaction temperature are 0.5 M TiCl
4
and 95 °C, respectively. The rutile clusters synthesized at the optimum reaction conditions exhibited 99 % of the photocatalytic degradation of TPA under visible light illumination at shorter irradiation times compared with commercial P25 TiO
2
.