• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.96-101
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• 2015

Quantitative evaluation of photocatalytic activity of oxide nanoparticles in aqueous solution is quite challenging in that the kinetic reaction rate is determined by a complicated interplay among various limiting factors such as light scattering and absorption, diffusion and adsorption of reactants in condensed liquid phase, photoexcited charge separation and recombination rate, and the exact nature of active sites determined by detailed morphology and crystallinity of nanocrystals. Here, we present our simple experimental results showing that the kinetic regime of a typical photocatalytic degradation experiment over UV-irradiated $TiO_2$ nanoparticles in aqueous solution is in that dominated by the photoactivity of $TiO_2$ and its concentration. This result lays a firm ground of using the measured kinetic reaction rate in evaluating photocatalytic efficiency of oxide nanocrystals under evaluation.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.590-594
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• 2018

ZnO micro/nanocrystals are formed by a vapor transport method. Mixtures of ZnO and TiO powders are used as the source materials. The TiO powder acts as a reducing agent to reduce the ZnO to Zn and plays an important role in the formation of ZnO micro/nanocrystals. The vapor transport process is carried out in air at atmospheric pressure. When the weight ratios of TiO to ZnO in the source material are lower than 1:2, no ZnO micro/nanocrystals are formed. However, when the ratios of TiO to ZnO in the source material are greater than 1:1, the ZnO crystals with one-dimensional wire morphology are formed. In the room temperature cathodoluminescence spectra of all the products, a strong ultraviolet emission centered at 380 nm is observed. As the ratio of TiO to ZnO in the source material increases from 1:2 to 1:1, the intensity ratio of ultraviolet to visible emission increases, suggesting that the crystallinity of the ZnO crystals is improved. Only the ultraviolet emission is observed for the ZnO crystals prepared using the source material with a TiO/ZnO ratio of 2:1.

• Carbon letters
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• v.22
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• pp.48-59
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• 2017

This study synthesized pure anatase carbon doped $TiO_2$ photocatalysts supported on a stainless steel mesh using a sol-gel solution of 8% polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/dimethylformamide (DMF)/$TiCl_4$. The influence of the pyrolysis temperature and holding time on the morphological characteristics, particle sizes and surface area of the prepared catalyst was investigated. The prepared catalysts were characterized by several analytical methods: high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XRD patterns showed that the supported $TiO_2$ nanocrystals are typically anatase, polycrystalline and body-centered tetragonal in structure. The EDS and XPS results complemented one another and confirmed the presence of carbon species in or on the $TiO_2$ layer, and the XPS data suggested the substitution of titanium in $TiO_2$ by carbon. Instead of using calcination, PAN pyrolysis was used to control the carbon content, and the mesoporosity was tailored by the applied temperature. The supported $TiO_2$ nanocrystals prepared by pyrolysis at 300, 350, and $400^{\circ}C$ for 3 h on a stainless steel mesh were actual supported carbon doped $TiO_2$ nanocrystals. Thus, $PAN/DMF/TiCl_4$ offers a facile, robust sol-gel related route for preparing supported carbon doped $TiO_2$ nanocomposites.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.62-65
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• 2017

Passivation of surface defects by the formation of chemically inert structure at the surface of $TiO_2$ nanocrystals can be potentially useful in enhancing their photocatalytic activity. In this regard, we have studied the surface chemical states of $TiO_2$ surfaces prepared by a treatment in the afterglow of $N_2$ microwave plasma using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). We find that nitrogen is incorporated into the surface after the treatment up to a few atomic percent. Interestingly, the surface oxynitride layer is found to be chemically stable when it's in contact with water at room temperature (RT). The surface nitrogen species were also found to be thermally stable upon annealing up to $150^{\circ}C$ in the atmospheric pressure. Thus, we conclude that the treatment of oxide materials such as $TiO_2$ in the afterglow of $N_2$ plasma can be effective way to passivate the surface with nitrogen species.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.301-301
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• 2005

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.3011-3015
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• 2009

Structural and thermo-analytical studies were carried out to understand the phase formation kinetics of the single phase $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ (BTFO) nanocrystals in $Bi_2O_3-Fe_2O_3-TiO_2$, during the polymerized complex (PC) synthesis method. The crystallization of Aurivillius phase $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ layered perovskite was found to be initiated and achieved under the temperature conditions in the range of ${\sim}$800 to 1050$^{\circ}C$. The activation energy for grain growth of $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ nanocrystals (NCs) was very low in case of NCs formed by PC (2.61 kJ/mol) than that formed by the solid state reaction (SSR) method (10.9 kJ/mol). The energy involved in the phase transformation of Aurivillius phase $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ from $Bi_2O_3-Fe_2O_3-TiO_2$ system was ${\sim}$ 69.8 kJ/mol. The formation kinetics study of $Bi_5Ti_3FeO_{15}$ synthesized by SSR and PC methods would not only render a large impact in the nanocrystalline material development but also in achieving highly efficient visible photocatalysts.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.28 no.A
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• pp.19-22
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• 2008

In recent years, much attention has been paid to "Photocatalytic oxidation" as an alternative technique, where the pollutants are degraded by UV-irradiation in the presence of a semiconductor suspension such as titanium dioxide. $TiO_2$ is the most often used photocatalyst due to its considerable photocatalytic activity, high stability, non-environmental impact and low cost. 1n this research, the photocatalytic degradation of humic acid, acetaldehyde and methylene blue in $UV/TiO_2$ systems has been stydied. The effect of calcination temperature for manufacturing of $TiO_2$ photocatalysts and type of photocatalysts on photodegradation has been investigated. Photocatalysts with various metal ions(Mn, Fe, Cu and Pt) loading are tested to evaluate the effects of metal ions impurities on photodegradation. The photodegradation efficiency with $Pt-TiO_2$ or $Fe-TiO_2$ or $Cu-TiO_2$ is higher than Degussa P-25 powder. However, the photodegradation efficiency with $Mn-TiO_2$ is lower than Degussa P-25 powder. The photocatalytic properties of the nanocrystals were strongly dependent upon the crystallinity, particle size, standard reduction potential of various transition metal and electronegativity of various transition metal. As a result photocatalysts with various metal ion loading evaluated the effect of photodegradation.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2016

In this study $TiO_2$/reduced graphene oxide ($TiO_2/rGO$) bipyramid with tunable nanostructure was fabricated by two-step solvothermal process and subsequent heat-treatment in air. The as-synthesized anatase $TiO_2$ nanocrystals possessed morphological bipyramid with exposed dominantly by (101) facets. Polyethylenimine was utilized during the combination of $TiO_2$ and graphene oxide (GO) to tune the surface charge, hindering the restack of graphene during solvothermal process and resulting in 1 to 5 layers of rGO wrapped on $TiO_2$ surface. After a further calcination, a portion of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with a diameter about 2 nm were produced owing to the oxidizing and cutting of rGO on $TiO_2$. The as-prepared $TiO_2/rGO$ hybrid showed a highly photocatalytic activity, which is about 3.2 and 7.7 times enhancement for photodegradation of methyl orange with compared to pure $TiO_2$ and P25, respectively. We assume that the improvement of photocatalysis is attributed to the chemical bonding between rGO/CQDs and $TiO_2$ that accelerates photogenerated electron-hole pair separation, as well as enhances light harvest.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.71-82
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• 2013

A simple chemical precipitation technique is reported for the synthesis of a hybrid nanostructure of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and titania ($TiO_2$) nanocrystals of average size 5 nm, which may be useful as a prominent photocatalytic material with improved functionality. The synthesized hybrid structure has been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. It is clearly revealed that nearly monodispersed titania nanocrystals (anatase phase) of average size 5 nm decorate the surfaces of SWCNT bundles. The UV-vis absorption study shows a blue shift of 16 nm in the absorbance peak position of the composite material compared to the unmodified SWCNTs. The photoluminescence study shows a violet-blue emission in the range of 325-500 nm with a peak emission at 400 nm. The low temperature electrical transport property of the synthesized nanomaterial has been studied between 77-300 K. The DC conductivity shows semiconductor-like characteristics with conductivity increasing sharply with temperature in the range of 175-300 K. Such nanocomposites may find wide applications as improved photocatalyst due to transfer of photo-ejected electrons from $TiO_2$ to SWCNT, thus reducing recombination, with the SWCNT scaffold providing a firm and better positioning of the catalytic material.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.162-169
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• 2014

This paper introduces a microwave-assisted synthesis method to prepare hybrid $Bi_2Se_3-GR/TiO_2$ nanocomposites, which exhibit superior properties over single component materials. The as-prepared composites were characterized by XRD, UV-vis absorbance spectra, SEM,TEM, EDX, and BET analyses, revealing uniform covering of the graphene nanosheet with $Bi_2Se_3$ and $TiO_2$ nanocrystals. For visible light photocatalysis of Rh.B, a significant enhancement in the reaction rate was consequently observed with $Bi_2Se_3-GR/TiO_2$ composites. The degradation rate($k_{app}$) obtained for sonophotocatalysis was $6.8{\times}10^{-3}min^{-1}$, roughly 2.2 times better than that of VL photocatalysis under higher concentrations of Rh.B. The sonophotocatalysis was faster due to greater formation of reactive radicals as well as an increase of the active surface area of the $Bi_2Se_3-GR/TiO_2$ composites. The high activity is attributed to the synergetic effects of high charge mobility and red shift of the absorption edge of $Bi_2Se_3-GR/TiO_2$.