Characterization and photocatalytic property of Pd/TiO 2 with the oxidation of gaseous benzene

Abstract

Increasing environmental pollution caused by the volatile organic compounds due to their toxicity is a matter of great concern. So it is crucial to develop processes which can destroy these compounds effectively. It has been found that the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 towards the decomposition of gaseous benzene can be greatly enhanced by loading Pd on the surface of TiO 2. The results show that the optimum palladium loading is 0.25 wt.%. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, UV–vis diffuse reflectance and XPS. XRD results indicate that no peaks of Pd are detected in the 2 θ region from 10° to 90°. Pd/TiO 2 absorbs much more light than TiO 2 in the visible light region. The XPS spectrum shows that there are Ti, O, C and Pd elements on the surface of the Pd/TiO 2, the binding energy values of Ti2p of 0.25%Pd/TiO 2 transfer to a lower value. In addition, the photocatalytic performance of 0.25%Pd/TiO 2 was investigated, the result illustrates that 0.25%Pd/TiO 2 demonstrates 2.32 times the photocatalytic activity of pure TiO 2. The reason of promotion of photocatalytic performance was discussed.