Photocatalytic Properties of Titanate Nanotube Powders Prepared by Alkaline Hydrothermal Method

Abstract

This paper reports the photocatalytic activities of titanate nanotubes (TNTs) synthesized using different methods and compares them with that of P25. Rhodamine B was selected as the organic compound to be decomposed by the microwave/UV/photocatalyst hybrid process. The as-prepared TNT had titanate crystalline structure, whereas the TNT calcined at 723 K was phase-transformed into anatase structure. When the as-prepared TNT was ion-exchanged using HCl, Na+ content was reduced from 8.36 wt% to 0.03 wt%. The ion-exchanged TNT showed the highest photocatalytic activity among the TNTs tested in this study, but it was lower than that of P25.