Photochemical degradation of phenol in the of titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Abstract

In this article, a description of the photochemical degradation of phenol with TiO 2 nanoparticles for the treatment of toxic substances in water basins is presented. Such research is of great relevance due to the discharge of wastewater into clean water basins resulting in a contamination of ecosystems with very ecological consequences. Due to the seemingly inevitable reduction in the world’s freshwater reservoirs, finding new methods for the high-level purification of contaminated waters so as to minimise the toxic substance content is of paramount importance. Composition and quantitative analysis of the photolysis solution was carried out using the gas chromatographic method. TiO 2 nanopowders were prepared using the sol-gel method from titanium IV isopropoxide (TTIP), isopropyl alcohol and ammonium hydroxide precursors under normal conditions without any post-heat treatment for crystallisation. The nanocrystalline rutile-phase TiO2 powders were characterised by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The size of nanoparticles as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was about 10–20 nm, while the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area of the rutile nanopowder was 159.6 m 2 /g. The photocatalytic performance of the synthesised nanopowders photochemical was observed to enhance degradation of the phenol solution under UV irradiation. The phenol degradation was quantitatively analysed using a 6890N GC-MSD gas chromatograph with an Agilent 5975 highperformance mass-selective detector. Degradation of phenol in the presence of TiO2 nanopowders yielded a rate of 99%.