Abstract
Adsorption, thermal decomposition, and photoreactions of ethylene oxide (EO) on powdered TiO 2 have been studied by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy. Most of the adsorbed EO molecules at the saturated coverage on 35 °C TiO 2 remain intact. As the temperature is increased (≥100 °C), the surface EO molecules dissociate into ethylene glycol-like species (-OCH 2 CH 2 OH or -OCH 2 CH 2 O-) by ring rupture and crotonaldehyde (CH 3 CH=CHCHO) possibly via acetaldehyde from EO isomerization. The ring-opening process is enhanced in the presence of coadsorbed H 2 O molecules. EO with the highly strained three-membered ring is thermally more reactive than 1,4-dioxane on TiO 2 . EO molecules adsorbed on TiO 2 readily undergo photodegradation in O 2 , forming surface H 2 O, CO 2 , HCO 3 , CO 3 , and HCOO. The comparative studies of 16 O 2 and 18 O 2 indicate that both O 2 and lattice oxygen take part in the EO photodecomposition. The reaction pathways involving the two oxygen species are discussed.
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