Hybrid TiO2 @ phthalocyanine catalysts in photooxidation of 4-nitrophenol: Effect of the matrix and sensitizer type

Abstract Microcrystalline and nanocrystalline anatase (TiO2) based hybrid photocatalysts including selected phthalocyanine sensitizers were explored in photooxidation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in water. Composites obtained with the homemade pure nano-anatase displayed a very poor catalytic performance compared to the other ones prepared from the commercial Tioxide-Huntsman (micro) and Evonik P25 (nano) products. In particular, the microcrystalline anatase impregnated with sandwich phthalocyanines of Gd or Yb showed excellent results both in photooxidation of 4-NP and hydroquinone, and proved the only ones which completely removed these two compounds from the system during the same reaction cy…