Photo Catalytic Ability of Acicular Shaped TiO$_{2}$ Rutile Powder in Aqueous Metal-EDTA Solutions

Photo catalytic characteristics of nano-sized TiO$_2$ powder with rutile phase produced using homogeneous precipitation process at low temperatures (HPPLT) were compared with those of commercial P-25 powder by Degussa Co. The TiO$_2$ powder by HPPLT showed very higher photoactivity in the removal rate, showing lower pH values in the solution, than the P-25 powder when eliminating metal ions such as Pb and Cu from aqueous metal-EDTA solutions. This can be inferred the more rapid photo-oxidation or -reduction of metal ions from the aqueous solution, together with relatively higher efficiencies in the use of electron-hole pair formed on the surface of TiO$_2$ particle, under UV light irradiation. Also, in the view of the TiO$_2$ particle morphology, compared to the well-dispersed spherical P-25 particle, the agglomerated TiO$_2$ particle by HPPL T consists of acicular typed primary particle with the thickness ranged of 3∼7 nm, which would be more effective to the photocatalytic reactions without electron-hole recombination on the surface of the TiO$_2$ particle under the UV light irradiation. It is, therefore, thought that the higher photo activity of the rutile TiO$_2$ powder by HPPLT in the aqueous solutions resulted from having its higher specific surface area as well as acicular shape primary particle with very thin thickness.