Synthesis, characterization, and photocatalytic activity of TiO₂–SiO₂ nanocomposites

Abstract

Introduction of complex chemical compounds in the wastewater treatment plants challenged the biological process efficiency. Photocatalyst oxidation was newly introduced to remove the trace organic contaminations. Since their surface area determined the production of hydroxyl radicals, the pure TiO₂ surface area was increased by the preparation of TiO₂–SiO₂ nanocomposite using sol–gel technique. Later on, the X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy diffraction spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV–vis reflective dispersion spectroscopy, and adsorption of nitrogen gas were deployed for its characterization. Anatase phase was detected as the dominant form of nanocomposites made in this study. Furthermore, rise of calcination temperature, increased the nanoparticle pore size. Therefore, 600°C was selected to gain the optimum nanoparticle pore size (around 10 nm). Finally, the photocatalytic activities of the synthesized nanoparticles were evaluated for removing Acid Blue 9 (AB9) dye. The photocatalytic performance of the most optimized ratio TiO₂–SiO₂ nanocomposites was three times higher than that of pure TiO₂ and even commercial nanoparticle.

Keywords:

• TiO₂ nanoparticles
• TiO₂–SiO₂ nanocomposites
• Sol–gel method
• Photocatalysis
• Dye removal