Abstract
A novel process was developed for the synthesis of a mixed phase (constituted of 66% anatase phase) of TiO2 nanoparticles at lower calcination temperature (400 oC) by the sol gel technique using a cost effective and easily available propanol solvent. Stereochemistry of propanol played a crucial role towards crystallographic phase of resultant TiO2nanoparticles where n-propanol gave mixed phase while i-propanol gave pure anatase. A plausible mechanism has been proposed. An effect of crystallographic phase on their photocatalytic activity was studied using degradation of bromophenol blue dye. The rate constants of the dye degradation reaction for anatase phase and mixed phase were found to be 6.86 x 10-3 /s and 1.56 x 10-2 /s respectively. A mixed phase of TiO2 showed faster (120 min for 84%) photodegradation compared to the anatase phase (270 min. for 84%) due to an effect of crystalline and electronic parameters. The cyclic voltammetry results depicted the reducing nature of i- TiO2than n-TiO2, which creates unfavorable situation for the electron transfer from TiO2 to dye.
Highlights
TiO2 is the most studied metal oxide nano-material due to its excellent photochemical performance, low cost, stability and availability 1,2
The titanium (IV) isopropoxide 98% was used as a precursor (Avra synthesis, Hyderabad) while isopropanol and n-propanol were used as solvent (Qualigens, Mumbai)
Band gap of anatase phase (3.2 eV) was higher than the mixed phase (3 eV) and PL spectra for the anatase phase are expected at lower wavelength than mixed phase
Summary
TiO2 is the most studied metal oxide nano-material due to its excellent photochemical performance, low cost, stability and availability 1,2. Amongst which the anatase phase is meta‐stable bearing the highest band gap energy and has a wide applications in different fields 5-7 It is reported 8-11 that mixed phase of anatase and rutile TiO2 show more favourable photocatalytic properties due to transfer of electrons from anatase to rutile phase, which reduces the recombination rate of anatase, leading to more efficient electron-hole separation and greater catalytic reactivity[12 ]. Owing to these facts, many researchers synthesized mixed phase of TiO2 , 8-11 but it is energy intensive. Under these studies, the titania nanoparticles were synthesized using a common solvent at low temperature using sol-gel method
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