Enhancement of the TiO2 photoactivity for propene oxidation by carbon incorporation using saccharose in hydrothermal synthesis

January 4, 2021

Title

Enhancement of the TiO2 photoactivity for propene oxidation by carbon incorporation using saccharose in hydrothermal synthesis

Author

L.Cano-Casanova, A.Amorós-Pérez, M.Ouzzine, M.C.Román-Martínez, M.A.Lillo-Ródenas

Year

2020

Journal

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

Abstract

TiO2-C photocatalysts were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis using titanium tetraisopropoxide, saccharose and HCl of variable concentration. The TiO2-C photocatalysts have textural properties similar to those of analogous bare TiO2 samples, but different crystalline phase composition; they only contain anatase instead of an anatase-brookite-rutile mixture in bare TiO2. This reveals that carbon contributes to the stabilization of anatase. Also, the presence of carbon has shown to favor the spherical morphology. The TiO2-C photocatalysts are more active than analogous bare TiO2 ones and P25. The most efficient TiO2-C photocatalysts are those prepared with lower HCl concentration solutions, 0.5 and 0.8 M, which present higher surface area and lower density of hydroxyl surface groups. Carbon, about 0.3-0.7 wt. %, seems to be (partially) incorporated into the TiO2 lattice and it likely leads to low electron-hole recombination rate and emission processes that could contribute to explain the good activity of the TiO2-C samples.

Instrument

NRS-5100

Keywords

Photocatalytic oxidation, titanium dioxide, hydrothermal synthesis, carbonpropene mineralization