High photocatalytic activity of F-TiO2 on activated carbon

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and surface fluorinated titanium dioxide (F-TiO2) were coated on activated carbon (AC) by sol-gel under dipped coating techniques. Effect of titanium tetra-isopropoxide (TTIP) to 2-propanol (2-PP) ratios, number of coated cycles, coating times and acidity on surface morphology and photocatalytic activity were investigated. After coating, TiO2 films were annealed at 400 °C then immersed in a NaF solution for doping F on TiO2-surface. The effects of surface fluorination and procedure on the nanostructure of F-TiO2-coated AC (F-TiO2/AC), such as morphology and photocatalytic activities were investigated in detail. SEM images for the samples that prepared from TTIP: 2-PP ratio of 1:30, coated cycles of 1 time, coating time of 10 min. and pH 2 showed nanoparticles of F-TiO2 and aggregated to be nano-fiber. UV spectrophotometric analysis showed degradation of methylene blue for F-TiO2/AC treatment under weak UV. The results showed that F-TiO2/AC was high performance photo-catalysts with characteristic time constant (τ) of 0.260 min.