The Effect of Surfactant Chain Length and Type on the Photocatalytic Activity of Mesoporous TiO۲ Nanoparticles Obtained via Modified Sol-Gel Process

Mesoporous amorphous and nanocrystalline titanium dioxide were prepared by simple and environmental friendly modified Sol-Gel method using cationic (C۱۴TAB, C۱۶TAB, C۱۸TAB) and nonionic (Plantacare UP K۵۵) surfactant as pore forming agent. The obtained particles were characterized by BET, TEM, FT-IR and XRD techniques. The effect of cationic surfactant chain length and type of template on the photocatalytic activity of as prepared TiO۲ nanoparticles were investigated by the degradation of rhodamine B in water solution under UV irradiation. The results indicated that this process was well described by pseudo-first order kinetic model. All the prepared titanium dioxide particles with cationic and nonionic surfactant exhibited higher performance for rhodamine B photo-degradation. The sample with large pore size and small particle size which obtained by using C۱۸TAB surfactant showed high photocatalytic activity compared with the others samples and commercial P۲۵. The mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B was proposed based on the degradation products determined by GC/MS and LC/MS. The performance of the recycled TiO۲ as photocatalyst was investigated.

کلیدواژه ها:

: Sol-gel processes ، Mesoporous materials ، Reaction mechanisms ، Photochemistry ، Nanostructures