• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to determine the optimum conditions of operational parameters using factorial design for phenol degradation in photocatalytic oxidation reactors. Factorial design is widely used to select the dominant factors and their ranges in experiments involving several factors where it is necessary to study the effect of factors on a response. The effects of initial concentration of phenol, intensity of UV light and surface area of catalyst on phenol degradation were investigated. Two levels were considered in this study so that the experiment was a $2^3$ factorial design with three replicates. The experimental results show that an increase in initial concentration of phenol from 5 to 50 mg/L intensity of UV light from 5,000 to $20,000\;{\mu}W/cm^2$, and surface area of catalyst from 740 to $2,105\;cm^2$ enhanced the phenol degradation rate by an average of 1.86, 1.79, and 2.10 mg/L hr, respectively. Interaction effects do not appear to be as large on the phenol degradation rate as the main effects of single factors. The optimum working condition for photocatalytic oxidation reactors, despite the higher three factors the better removal rate, is the highest surface area or catalyst.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.116-120
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• 2013

Characteristics of photocatalytic CO removal process conducting CO conversion by using Pt loaded $TiO_2$ photocatalyst were investigated in a photocatalytic tubular reactor. Effects of Pt loading method onto $TiO_2$, linear velocity of gas stream containing CO gas, CO concentration and moisture content in the gas stream on the conversion of CO to $CO_2$ were examined. It was found that the CO gas could be removed almost 100% by using photocatalytic tubular reactor internally coated with Pt/$TiO_2$ photocatalyst under UV irradiation, when the linear velocity of gas stream was in the range of 0.01~0.25 m/s and CO concentration in the gas stream was ranged from 20 to 100 ppm and the relative humidity of the gas stream was in the range of 20~40%. The conversion of CO gas decreased gradually with increasing linear velocity of gas stream and CO concentration in the gas stream. The moisture in the gas stream could promote the removal of CO gas by means of the generation of OHradicals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2016.11a
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• pp.59-75
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• 2016

Reduced or black $TiO_{2-x}$ materials with oxygen-deficiency have been achieved by creating oxygen vacancies and/or defects at the surface using different methods. Fascinatingly, they exhibited an extended absorption in VIS and IR instead of only UV light with bandgap decrease from 3.2 (anatase) to ~1 eV. However, despite the dramatic enhancement of optical absorption in black $TiO_{2-x}$ materials, they have failed to show expected visible light-assisted water splitting efficiency. This was ascribed to the high concentration of the surface defects and/or oxygen vacancies, considered as an electron donor to enhance donor density and improve the charge transportation in black $TiO_2$ can also act as charge recombination centers, which eventually decrease photocatalytic activity. Therefore, a black ot reducd $TiO_2$ material with optimized properties would be highly desired for visible light photocatalysis. In this report, a new controlled magnesiothermic reduction has been developed to synthesize reduced black $TiO_{2-x}$ in the presence $H_2/Ar$ for photocatalytic $H_2$ production from methanol-water system. The material possesses an optimum band gap and band position, oxygen vacancies, and surface defects and shows significantly improved optical absorption in the visible and infrared region. The synergistic effects enable the reduced $TiO_{2-x}$ material to show an excellent hydrogen production ability along with long-term stability under the full solar wavelength range of light and visible light, respectively, in the methanol-water system in the presence of Pt as a co-catalyst. These values are superior to those of previously reported black $TiO_2$ materials. On the basis of all the results, it can be realized that the outstanding activity and stability of the reduced of $TiO_{2-x}$ NPs suggest that a balanced combination of different factors like $Ti^{3+}$, surface defects, oxygen vacancy, and recombination center is achieved along with optimized bandgap and band position during the preparation employing magnesiothermic reduction in the presence of $H_2$. The controlled magnesiothermic reduction in the presence of $H_2$ is one of the best alternative ways to produce active and stable $TiO_2-based$ photocatalyst for $H_2$ production.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.148-152
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• 2012

Anatase and anatase/rutile $TiO_2$ samples were prepared at $HNO_3$/TTIP molar ratio of 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 to study the effects of the physical properties of $TiO_2$ on photocatalytic decomposition of methylene blue. The physical properties of the samples were measured with XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, FT-IR, and UV-vis spectroscopy. Anatase phase was observed at $HNO_3$/TTIP of 0.1 and anatase/rutile phases were observed at $HNO_3$/TTIP of 0.5~1.5. Rutile crystal phase, mesopore size between $TiO_2$ nanoparticles, and surface OH group on $TiO_2$ sample were gradually increased with increasing the molar ratio of $HNO_3$/TTIP and the residual methylene blue concentration before UV irradiation decreased from 78.0 to 53.3%. After UV irradiation, the residual methylene blue concentrations of the samples prepared at $HNO_3$/TTIP of 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 were 20, 14, 11, and 23%, respectively, and the sample prepared at $HNO_3$/TTIP of 1.0 showed the best photocatalytic ability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.331-337
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• 2019

Titania has become the most applicable material for photocatalytic application. Nevertheless, titania has the weak point in its wide band gap energy that is mainly activated by UV irradiation. There have been vast research challenges in order to make the wide band gap energy of titania narrow that could be activated in the presence of visible light. Various modifications of titania surface were popular because titania needs to change its surface to respond in visible light. Among the methodological approaches, N-doping to titania can be the alternative candidate because it is facile process and eco-friendly. The activated electron from valence band in N-doped $TiO_2$ migrates to conduction band in the presence of visible light irradiation, which shows photocatalytic activity as well. In this study, focused on the evaluation of nitrogen state after N-doping through brief review. Arguments are still existed in nitrogen states and their different effects on photocatalytic activity. In particular, two nitrogen states are generally reported; substitutional and interstitial states. The research articles regarding N-doped $TiO_2$ are continuously appearing because the potential application of water split in visible light is still fascinate. The future of N-doped $TiO_2$ is also presented by referrals based on various literature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.246-246
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• 2016

Tungsten-nitrogen (W-N) co-doping has been known to enhance the photocatalytic activity of anatase titania nanoparticles by utilizing visible light. The doping effects are, however, largely dependent on calcination or annealing conditions, and thus, the massive production of quality-controlled photocatalysts still remains a challenge. Using density functional theory (DFT) thermodynamics and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) computations, we investigate the atomic structures of N doping and W-N co-doping in anatase titania, as well as the effect of the thermal processing conditions. We find that W and N dopants predominantly constitute two complex structures: an N interstitial site near a Ti vacancy in the triple charge state and the simultaneous substitutions of Ti by W and the nearest O by N. The latter case induces highly localized shallow in-gap levels near the conduction band minimum (CBM) and the valence band maximum (VBM), whereas the defect complex yielded deep levels (1.9 eV above the VBM). Electronic structures suggest that substitutions of Ti by W and the nearest O by N improves the photocatalytic activity of anatase by band gap narrowing, while defective structure degrades the activity by an in-gap state-assisted electron-hole recombination, which explains the experimentally observed deep level-related photon absorption. Through the real-time propagation of TDDFT (rtp-TDDFT), we demonstrate that the presence of defective structure attracts excited electrons from the conduction band to a localized in-gap state within a much shorter time than the flat band lifetime of titania. Based on these results, we suggest that calcination under N-rich and O-poor conditions is desirable to eliminate the deep-level states to improve photocatalysis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.6952-6957
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• 2014

In photocatalysis, the addition of metal matter to $TiO_2$ can alter the surface properties. As such, the metal can increase the rate of the photodegradation reaction. In this study, a range of modified $TiO_2$ photocatalysts were prepared and tested to improve the activity of photodegradation at a batch-typed photoreactor. To obtain a good sol solution of the $TiO_2$ photocatalyst, several types of dispersion agents and stabilizers were investigated. The photocatalyst solutions were modified with isoproply alcohol as the dispersion agent and sodium silicate as the stabilizer. The effects of various metallic elements on enhancing the photocatalytic activity of $TiO_2$ on the degradation of toluene were examined. Palladium-added $TiO_2$ was found to be the best, whereas copper or tungsten-added also showed good results. In the case of palladium addition, the increase in removal efficiency was 25%. On the other hand, Fe-added $TiO_2$ showed a notable decrease in photocatalytic degradation. Additional doping of copper or tungsten on the $Pd/TiO_2$ had no positive effect on the photodegradation activity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.823-830
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• 2008

The feasibility study for the application of the photoelectrocatalytic decolorization of Rhodamine B(RhB) was performed in the slurry photoelectrochemical reactor with powder TiO$_2$. The photoelectrocatalytic process was consisted of powder TiO$_2$, Pt electrode and three 8 W UV-C lamps. The effects of operating conditions, such as current, electrolyte, air flow rate and electrode material were evaluated. The experimental results showed that optimum TiO$_2$ dosage and current in photoelectrocatalytic process were 0.4 g/L and 0.02 A, respectively. It was found that the RhB could be degraded more efficiently by this photoelectrocatalytic process than the sum of the two individual oxidation processes(photocatalytic and electrolytic process). It demonstrated a synergetic effect between the photo- and electrochemical catalysis. Photoelectrocatalytic process was affected to air flow rate and optimum air flow rate was 2 L/min. The electrode material and NaCl effect of decolorization of RhB were not significant within the experiment conditions.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.37-41
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• 2001

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.

• Clean Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2000

In the photocatalytic degradation of benzene using $TiO_2$ as photocatalyst, anionic effects were investigated. When near UV and visible light was irradiated, the photodegradation of benzene was slightly increased in which $S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ or $NO{_3}^-$ coexisted with $TiO_2$. But $NO{_2}^-$ or $Cl^-$ diminished it remarkably, because these anions scavenged hydroxyl radical. While in the case of UV light irradiation, $S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ and $NO{_3}^-$ enhanced photodegradation of benzene due to photosensitization of these anions, but $NO{_2}^-$ or $Cl^-$ diminished it little.