• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1951-1957
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• 2007

A new synthetic strategy based on the acid-base catalyzed sol-gel method was developed for the preparation of a series of mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles. A key feature of the method involves a gradual change in pH (0.8- 9) during the sol-gel transition, which guarantees easy introduction of mesoporosity without relying on the well-established sonochemical or template approach. In addition, this method leads to the exclusive formation of the anatase phase stable enough to the calcination temperature up to 600 oC. The physicochemical properties of the particles in the series were characterized by various spectroscopic and analytical techniques such as wide-angle XRD, SAXRD, BET surface area, FE-SEM, TEM, FT-IR, TGA, and XPS. The photocatalytic efficiency of these materials was investigated for the oxidation of toluene under UV-irradiation. All but T-ad in the series exhibited high photocatalytic activity pushing the reaction into completion within 3 h. The reaction followed the first order kinetics, and the rate reaches as high as 3.9 × 10?2/min which exceeds the one with the commercially available Degussa P-25 by a factor of 3.2. When comparison is made among the catalysts, the reactivity increases with increase in the calcination temperature which in turn increases the crystallinity of the anatase phase, thus revealing the following rate orders: T-3 < T-4 < T-5 < T-6.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.322-328
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• 2009

Emulsion polymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) was conducted under ultrasonic irradiation. Two sources of ultrasound with different intensities and frequencies of 20 KHz and 40 KHz were used for horn and bath type reactor, respectively. A combined process of horn and bath was also investigated. The effectiveness of the reaction systems was investigated by measuring conversion as well as intrinsic viscosity of the products. The influence of reaction temperature and sonication time on the progress of sonochemical polymerization was examined. It was found that conversion of greater than 80% and high viscosity were achieved within a few minutes of sonication in a horn type reactor, however, conversion and viscosity showed maximum values depending upon the sonication time. In a bath type reactor where a relatively weak intensity was maintained, longer duration time of more than one hour of sonication was required to reach a high level of conversion and viscosity. Compared with the horn type system, the conversion and viscosity in the bath type reactor were increased along with the sonication time. When the polymerization was carried out in a combined system of horn and bath, the evolution of conversion and molecular weight was quite different from the other cases. For the given geometry of reaction system, acoustic analysis using a commercial software was carried out and the results were correlated with experimental observation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.729-732
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• 2012

Herein we report the in-situ synthesis and direct decoration of chalcogenide naoparticles (NPs) onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) through an ionic liquid-assisted sonochemical method (ILASM). The as-obtained MWCNT/$BMimBF_4$/CdTe, MWCNT/$BMimBF_4$/ZnTe and MWCNT/$BMimBF_4$/ZnSe nanocomposites were characterized by TEM images and EDS spectra. In particular, the morphologies of nanocomposites such as bump-like, rough, and smooth core-shell structures were strongly influenced by the type of precursors and the interactions with MWCNT. This synthetic strategy opens a new way to directly synthesize and deposit semiconducting NPs (s-NPs) onto CNTs, which consist of binary components obtained from two precursors with different reaction rates.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2018

$TiO_2/CuS$ nanocomposites were fabricated by precipitation of nanosized CuS via sonochemical method on electrospun $TiO_2$ nanofibers, and their structure, chemical bonding states, optical properties, and photocatalytic activity were investigated. In the $TiO_2/CuS$ nanocomposite, the position of the conduction band for CuS was at a more negative than that of TiO; meanwhile, the position of the valence band for CuS was more positive than those for TiO, indicating a heterojunction structure belonging to type-II band alignment. Photocatalytic activity, measured by decomposition of methylene blue under visible-light irradiation (${\lambda}$ > 400 nm) for the $TiO_2/CuS$ nanocomposite, showed a value of 85.94% at 653 nm, which represented an improvement of 52% compared to that for single $TiO_2$ nanofiber (44.97% at 653 nm). Consequently, the photocatalyst with $TiO_2/CuS$ nanocomposite had excellent photocatalytic activity for methylene blue under visible-light irradiation, which could be explained by the formation of a heterojunction structure and improvement of the surface reaction by increase in surface area.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.79-89
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• 2009

Naphthalene is a volatile, hydrophobic, and possibly carcinogenic compound that is known to have a severe detrimental effect to aquatic ecosystem. Our research examined the effects of various operating conditions (temperature, pH, initial concentration, and frequency and type of ultrasound) on the sonochemical degradation of naphthalene and OH radical production. The MDL (Method detection limit) determined by LC/FLD (1200 series, Agilient) using C-18 reversed column is measured up to 0.01 ppm. Naphthalene vapor produced from ultrasound irradiation was detected under 0.05 ppm. Comparison of naphthalene sonodegradion efficiency tested under open and closed reactor cover fell within less than 1% of difference. Increasing the reaction temperature from $15^{\circ}C$ to $40^{\circ}C$ resulted in reduction of naphthalene degradation efficiency ($15^{\circ}C$: 95% ${\rightarrow}$ $40^{\circ}C$: 85%), and altering pH from 12 to 3 increased the effect (pH 12: 84% ${\rightarrow}$pH 3: 95.6%). Pseudo first-order constants ($k_1$) of sonodegradation of naphthalene decreased as initial concentration of naphthalene increased (2.5 ppm: $27.3{\times}10^{-3}\;min^{-3}\;{\rightarrow}$ 10 ppm : $19.3{\times}10^{-3}\;min^{-3}$). Degradation efficiency of 2.5 ppm of naphthalene subjected to 28 kHz of ultrasonic irradiation was found to be 1.46 times as much as when exposed under 132 kHz (132 kHz: 56%, 28 kHz: 82.7%). Additionally, its $k_1$ constant was increased by 2.3 times (132 kHz: $2.4{\times}10^{-3}\;min^{-1}$, 28 kHz: $5.0{\times}10^{-3}\;min^{-1}$). $H_2O_2$ concentration measured 10 minutes after the exposure to 132 kHz of ultrasound, when compared with the measurement under frequency of 28 kHz, was 7.2 times as much. The concentration measured after 90 minutes, however, showed the difference of only 10%. (concentration of $H_2O_2$ under 28 kHz being 1.1 times greater than that under 132 kHz.) The $H_2O_2$ concentration resulting from 2.5 ppm naphthalene after 90 minutes of sonication at 24 kHz and 132 kHz were lower by 0.05 and 0.1 ppm, respectively, than the concentration measured from the irradiated M.Q. water (no naphthalene added.) Degradation efficiency of horn type (24 kHz) and bath type (28 kHz) ultrasound was found to be 87% and 82.7%, respectively, and $k_1$ was calculated into $22.8{\times}10^{-3}\;min^{-1}$ and $18.7{\times}10^{-3}\;min^{-1}$ respectively. Using the multi- frequency and mixed type of ultrasound system (28 kHz bath type + 24 kHz horn type) simultaneously resulted in combined efficiency of 88.1%, while $H_2O_2$ concentration increased 3.5 times (28 kHz + 24 kHz: 2.37 ppm, 24 kHz: 0.7 ppm.) Therefore, the multi-frequency and mixed type of ultrasound system procedure might be most effectively used for removing the substances that are easily oxidized by the OH radical.