Low-temperature preparation of nanocrystalline TiO 2 photocatalyst with a very large specific surface area

Abstract

A facile method for obtaining highly photoactive bi-phase TiO 2 photocatalyst with a small crystalline size and very large specific surface area was developed. This was simply done by hydrolysis of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) in pure water at 70 °C and followed by drying at 100 °C. The prepared TiO 2 powder samples were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and BET surface areas. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the photocatalytic oxidation of acetone in air. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of the prepared TiO 2 powder slightly exceeded that of Degussa P25. This might be attributed to the fact that the prepared TiO 2 powder had a very large specific surface area (750 m 2 g −1) and small crystallite size (about 5 nm), but relative low crystallinity, comparing with Degussa P25 photocatalyst.