Preparation and Characterisation of UV Irradiated TiO2 Catalyst

Abstract

Photocatalytic oxidation with TiO2 is one of the most efficient methods of advanced oxidation for the degradation of organic pollutants. It can completely oxidise many of the persistent organic pollutants into small molecules such as H2O and CO2. However, a number of factors currently limit the large-scale adaptation of the technology. For example, TiO2 is normally only effective in the UV irradiation range and it is difficult to utilise irradiations in higher wavelengths. The immobilisation of the catalyst for large-scale operations has also been difficult and reduces the efficiency of the photo-oxidation reactions. Nanometer particles of TiO2 are highly photo-effective but difficult to recover and reuse. In this paper, a UV irradiated mesoporous TiO2 catalyst with an average pore size of 5 nm was prepared by using a tartaric sol-gel method with cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide as template agent. The catalyst was analysed and characterised by using a number of techniques. Results indicated that UV irradiation during the preparation process of the mesoporous TiO2 catalyst changed its surface characteristics. It was also observed that the UV irradiated TiO2 catalyst has higher absorbance in the visible wavelength region (400-650 nm), indicating a potential shift of the effective photocatalytic wavelengths.