Bi12TiO20 synthesized directly from bismuth (III) nitrate pentahydrate and titanium glycolate and its activity

Pure phase of sillenite structure, Bi₁₂TiO₂₀, was directly synthesized using stoichiometric bismuth (III) nitrate pentahydrate and titanium glycolate by co-precipitation. The influence of pH on the structure of Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ was studied in the pH range of 3–10. The sillenite structure was characterized using XRD and FTIR. The photo-degradation reaction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) was used to study photocatalytic activity of Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ as a function of the preparation pH. The rate of decomposition was followed by UV-vis and TOC. The beginning concentration of 4-NP, 44 ppm, decreased to less than 1 ppm within 30 min for all prepared catalysts. It was found that the decomposition rate constant of Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ is six times higher than those of either TiO₂ or Bi₂O₃ under the same conditions.     

Preparations of nanosized TiO2 in reverse microemulsion and their photocatalytic activity

Nanosized titania sol has been produced by the controlled hydrolysis of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) in sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) reverse micelles. The physical properties, such as surface area, crystallite size and crystallinity according to R and W₀ ratio, have been investigated by TEM, XRD, BET, FT–IR, TGA and DTA. In addition, the photocatalytic decomposition of p-nitrophenol has been studied by using a batch reactor in the presence of UV light in order to compare the photocatalytic activity of prepared nanosized titania. It is shown that the anatase structure appears in the 300–600 °C calcination temperature range and the transformation of anatase into rutile starts above 700 °C. The crystallite size increases with increasing R and W₀ ratio but W₀ ratio shows a stronger effect on the crystallite size than R ratio. In the photocatalytic decomposition of p-nitrophenol, the photocatalytic activity is mainly determined by the crystallinity of titania. In addition, the titania calcined at 500 °C shows the highest activity on the photocatalytic decomposition of p-nitrophenol() and the pure anatase structure.     

Preparation of a tubular palladium membrane by photocatalytic deposition

A novel photocatalytic deposition method for the preparation of a thin tubular palladium membrane is presented in this paper. The membrane is prepared on a porous asymmetric TiO₂ support by photocatalytic reaction of palladium ion, followed by electroless plating. Gas permeation results show that the membrane exhibits increased hydrogen permeance with the increase of temperature. The hydrogen permeance and selectivity to nitrogen at 773 K are about 1.43×l0⁻⁶ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹ and 17, respectively, when the pressure in the feed side is 0.1 MPa. The activation energy of hydrogen permeation is 11.06 kJ/mol at the temperature range of 573–773 K.     

Evaluation of humic acid photocatalytic degradation by UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopy

Photodegradation of humic substances causes drastic changes in the UV–vis absorption and fluorescence properties of humic acids. In this study it is intended to fulfill the lack of knowledge about the spectral changes of humic acids during photocatalytic oxidation processes and elucidate the effects observed on the molecular size distribution of humic acid focusing on their analysis by UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopy.

As confirmed by the spectroscopic evaluation of the molecular size distribution data, photocatalytic degradation of humic acid leads to the formation of lower molecular size (small fractions) and higher UV absorbing compounds. For fractions less than 10 kDa, UV₂₅₄ absorbing moieties in treated humic acid samples become higher than that of raw humic acid designating the generation of new species during photocatalysis. UV–vis spectroscopic changes were also evaluated by the parameters relating to the concomitant removal of the total organic carbon as well as by the ratios using absorption values at discrete wavelengths. Moreover, the fluorescence spectra of treated humic acid samples show decreasing intensity profiles with increasing photocatalytic irradiation time.     

Use of mesoporous SBA-15 for nanostructuring titania for photocatalytic applications

SBA15–TiO₂ samples prepared by introducing titanium with a grafting method and having TiO₂ loadings below 15 wt.% have been characterized by XRF, XRD, IR, porosimetry, SEM, HRTEM, and UV–Visible diffuse reflectance. Differently from the samples reported in the literature characterized by a high TiO₂ loading, no evidences have been found for the presence of titania particles inside or outside the mesopores of SBA-15. Three different titanium species were instead evidenced to be present. The first two derive from the reaction of titanium with silanol groups in the corona area of inner SBA-15 walls leading to the formation of either TiO₄ tetrahedral sites (by reaction by hydroxyl nests of surface defect sites) and/or pseudo-octahedral surface sites anchored by two (or more) Si or Ti ions through bridging oxygens. The third species derives from the reaction of titanium in the regions with high sylanol density, e.g. in the micropores located in the corona of SBA-15 channels, leading to the formation of TiO₂-like nanoareas (probably Si-doped) with dimensions of around 1–2 nm maximum. The potential interest of these materials as photocatalysts, for the presence of a TiO₂-like nanoareas highly accessible by reactants, is discussed.     

Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Over CaTi1−x Zr x O3 Composites Synthesized by Polymerized Complex Method

The solid solution of CaTi_1−x Zr _x O₃ (x = 0–0.15) was successfully synthesized by the polymerized complex (PC) method. This study has exhibited the advantage of the PC method to prepare a highly active CaTiO₃ compared with the conventional solid-state reaction (SSR) method. More importantly, further improvement in phase purity and large surface area was achieved by the doping of Zr⁴⁺, leading to remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic activities compared to pure CaTiO₃. The quantum yield for H₂ evolution over the most active photocatalyst, Pt (1.0 wt%)/CaTi_0.93Zr_0.07O₃, was 1.91% and 13.3% in photoreactions from pure water and aqueous ethanol solution, respectively for 0.1 g photocatalyst, which was about 3.3 and 2.5 times compared to that of PC-derived CaTiO₃.     

Effect of TiO2 thin film thickness and specific surface area by low-pressure metal–organic chemical vapor deposition on photocatalytic activities

TiO₂ photocatalyst films having an anatase crystal structure with different thickness were prepared by the low-pressure metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (LPMOCVD) to examine the effect of growth conditions on photocatalytic activity. Film thickness was linearly proportional to the deposition time. Structure of the film was strongly dependent on the deposition time. In early stage of deposition, fine particles deposit on the substrate. As increasing the deposition time, crystal orientation is gradually selected following the Kolmogorov model and c-axis oriented columnar crystals become dominant. The photocatalytic activity strongly depends on the film deposition time (or film thickness) in nonlinear way. The optimum thickness of TiO₂ catalyst film grown by LPMOCVD may locate between 3 and 5 μm.     

Modeling of photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs in a packed bed reactor under continuous and discontinuous illuminations

In this paper, a mathematical model is presented to describe the photocatalytic degradation of VOCs in a packed bed reactor. Here, the adsorption of VOCs on the wall of the reactor is taken into account and the diffusion of VOCs in the axial direction is neglected. First-order kinetics is used to describe the photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs. The analytical solution of the present model is obtained by traveling wave method. The solution shows that the reactor performance is totally dependent on the inlet concentration of VOCs when the time is large enough. The present model is validated through the experimental result of the photocatalytic oxidation of trichloroethylene in a packed bed and the predicted results accord well with the experimental data. The influence of flow rate and inlet concentration on the performance of the reactor is discussed in detail. High flow rate offers high reaction rate and low conversion efficiency. The different inlet conditions and different reaction patterns are also investigated. The model would be useful to estimate the rate constant and help to the design of the reactor.     

分子自组装制备的掺杂WO3的TiO2光催化薄膜的表征

利用分子自组装技术在载波片上制备了锐钛相TiO2及WO3掺杂的TiO2薄膜。利用原子力显微镜(AFM)和UV-VIS-NIR分光光度计对薄膜进行了表征。利用对罗丹明B的降解评价了所制备薄膜的光催化活性。结果表明：当W／Ti=2at％时，TiO2薄膜的光催化活性得到提高。     

单分散TiO2的性能研究

以钛酸四丁酯为原料，三乙醇胺为形态控制剂，采用简单的凝胶溶胶-水热法制备了单分散的纳米级二氧化钛（TiO2）粒子。采用X-Ray衍射仪（XRD）、透射电镜（TEM）等手段对粒子的结构与形貌进行了分析。并考察了合成的纳米TiO2子的电化学性能和光催化活性。