Boosting Photocatalytic Performance of Inactive Rutile TiO₂ Nanorods under Solar Light Irradiation: Synergistic Effect of Acid Treatment and Metal Oxide Co-catalysts

Abstract

In the present work, we accomplish the boosting of photocatalytic performance by the synergistic effect of acid treatment and transition metal oxide co-catalysts on molten salt rutile TiO nanorods. FT-IR and XPS (oxygen deconvolution) results confirmed that the amount of hydroxyl groups increased on the surface of rutile TiO nanorods (TO-NRs) after acid treatment. HR-TEM analysis revealed fine dispersion of metal oxide on the surface of acid treated TiO nanorods (ATO-NRs). The photocatalytic activities of as-prepared (TO-NRs), acid treated (ATO-NRs), metal oxide loaded (MTO-NRs), and both acid treated and metal oxide loaded (MATO-NRs) nanorods were compared based on the rate kinetics and dye degradation efficiencies. Cobalt oxide (1 wt %) loaded and 1.0 M acid treated TiO nanorods (Co/ATO-NR) exhibited the higher photocatalytic degradation efficiency for Orange-II dye degradation and inactivation of S. typhimurium pathogen compared to other photocatalysts under solar irradiation. Photoelectrochemical analysis demonstrated that the charge transfer process in Co/ATO-NR is significantly higher than that in the untreated samples. The improved photocatalytic activity of inactive TO-NRs might be due to enhanced charge transfer of finely dispersed metal oxides on the OH-rich surface of acid treated TiO nanorods.

Self-cleaning building materials: The multifaceted effects of titanium dioxide

“…This analysis showed that only for nanoparticles immersed in nitric acid an average decrease in corresponding crystallite size of 2 nm was observed, indicating the presence of an amorphous layer around the particle, while no change was found in the other materials: this further supports XRD results, which indicate a lower crystallinity of the N-T sample. As previously proposed, and supported by further research works, the amorphization is ascribed to surface protonation of the oxide in acid environment [35,52,53]. Table 2 -TEM analyses of P25 powders before treatment, after acid treatment and after neutralization (labels recall Table 1 although samples do not contain paint) and difference between TEM bright field and dark field particle size, corresponding to the difference between actual particle size and size of corresponding crystal domain.…”

Significance of the surface and bulk features of hierarchical TiO2 in their photocatalytic properties

“…The photocatalytic activity of the rutile structure can be boosted in composites due to the synergistic effect between the mentioned structure and other types of metal oxides. [36], as it happens in the well-known P25-TiO 2 , where the anatase and rutile particles are constantly in contact [35].…”

Modification of 1D TiO2 nanowires with GaOxNy by atomic layer deposition for TiO2@GaOxNy core–shell nanowires with enhanced photoelectrochemical performance

“…The FTIR spectrum of the pure TiO2 NWs is very similar to that of TiO2 NWs as previously reported. 36 The absorption peaks at 523, 670, and 1162 cm -1 are the characteristic vibrations of the Ti-O-Ti networks in TiO2. After deposition of GaOxNy, the vibrational peaks characteristic of GaOxNy appeared in TG NWs.…”