Photoactivity of Nanostructured TiO2 Catalysts in Aqueous System and their Surface Acid-Base, Bulk and Textural Properties

This work reports on the characterisation and determintion of the photocatalytic activity of some TiO2 catalysts prepared using TiCl4 as precursor. The samples, consisting of suspensions, dispersions or powders of nanonstructured anatase or rutile phases, were obtained in very mild conditions, i.e., by boiling the solution obtained after hydrolysis of TiCl4 at atmospheric pressure: it is worth noting that no calcination was necessary to obtain photoactive phases. The samples were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), determination of the BET specific surface area (SSA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). FT-IR spectroscopy was use…

Zn,Al hydrotalcites calcined at different temperatures: Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic activity in gas–solid regime

Abstract Layered double hydroxides (LDH) containing zinc and aluminium within the brucite-like layers and carbonate as the interlayer anion have been used as precursors for the preparation of mixed metal oxides by calcination. Zinc oxide and the ZnAl 2 O 4 spinel were formed with different degree of crystallinity depending of two parameters, i.e., the Zn 2+ /Al 3+ molar ratio and the calcination temperature (500–800 °C) of the LDH precursor. A pure spinel phase was obtained to remove ZnO upon a basic post-treatment in NaOH solution of the samples calcined at 800 °C. All the samples were tested for the photodegradation of 2-propanol in gas–solid regime. All the samples resulted active as het…

Characterisation and photoactivity of nanostructured TiO2 obtained by hydrolysis of TiCl4