Enhanced Solar Light Photocatalytic Activity of Ag Doped TiO2–Ag3PO4 Composites
Composites comprised of Ag3PO4 and bare TiO2 (TiO2@Ag3PO4) or silver doped TiO2 (Ag@TiO2&ndash
Highly Active Photocatalytic TiO2 Powders Obtained by Thermohydrolysis of TiCl4 in Water
Highly active photocatalytic TiO2 samples were synthesized by thermohydrolysis of TiCl4 in water at 100 °C. Rutile, binary mixtures of anatase and rutile or anatase and brookite or ternary mixtures of anatase, brookite, and rutile were obtained depending on the TiCl4/H2O ratio. Rietveld refinements were employed to evaluate the crystalline phases and composition of the mixtures. The effect of the aging time on the phase composition was also studied. The band gap values of the samples were obtained by the diffuse reflectance spectra. The position of the flat band potentials of anatase, brookite, and rutile was determined measuring the photovoltage as a function of the suspension pH. From the…
Electron and Energy Transfer Mechanisms: The Double Nature of TiO2 Heterogeneous Photocatalysis
Photocatalytic chemical transformations in the presence of irradiated TiO2 are generally considered in terms of interfacial electron transfer. However, more elusive energy-transfer-driven reactions have been also hypothesized to occur, mainly on the basis of the indirect evidence of detected reaction products whose existence could not be justified simply by electron transfer. Unlike in homogeneous and colloidal systems, where energy transfer mechanisms have been investigated deeply for several organic syntheses, understanding of similar processes in heterogeneous systems is at only a nascent level. However, this gap of knowledge can be filled by considering the important achievements of syn…
Role of Hydroxyl, Superoxide, and Nitrate Radicals on the Fate of Bromide Ions in Photocatalytic TiO2 Suspensions
The influence of bromide ions on systems containing highly reactive radical species is of great interest for environmental remediation, atmospheric chemistry, and the synthesis of high-added-value ...
Photocatalytic activity of nanocrystalline TiO2 (brookite, rutile and brookite-based) powders prepared by thermohydrolysis of TiCl4 in aqueous chloride solutions
Abstract Nanocrystalline TiO2 powders were synthesized by thermohydrolysis of TiCl4 in HCl or NaCl aqueous solutions. Rutile, mixtures of brookite and rutile or mixtures of anatase, brookite and rutile were obtained depending on the acidity of the medium. Crystalline phases and composition of the mixtures were identified by using XRD analysis. Pure brookite nanoparticles, separated from the mixtures of brookite and rutile by simple peptization with water, were stable against transformation to rutile up to 750 °C. The prepared TiO2 powders were characterized by thermal analysis, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and BET surface area determinations. The band gap of bulky brookite was estimated…
Features and application of coupled cold plasma and photocatalysis processes for decontamination of water
Dielectric barrier discharge plasma and photocatalysis have been proposed as tools for decontamination of process water, especially in food industry. The present investigation aims to redefine and identify the features of coupling the two technologies in terms of degradation efficiency of a model compound. Results show that, when the process is carried out in plasma activated water in the presence of irradiated TiO2, the efficiency of the integrated process is lower than the sum of the two processes acting separately. It is proposed that afterglow species, e.g. hydrogen peroxide and/or peroxynitrites could be activated by UVA light irradiation producing hydroxyl radicals in the liquid phase…