Quaternized hollow TiO2-enhanced the dye adsorption capacity and photogenerated carrier separation for efficient reactive dye removal

Abstract

Currently, titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been demonstrated as a significant photocatalyst for the efficient removal of reactive dyes in dyeing effluents. However, due to the easy recombination of photogenerated carriers and electrostatic repulsion with reactive dye, single TiO2 cannot achieve satisfactory removal efficiency to reactive dye which is commonly used in cellulose fibers dyeing. Therefore, we prepared hollow titanium dioxide (H-TiO2) by alkaline treatment etching method and introduced quaternary ammonium groups on the surface of H-TiO2 photocatalyst (QAS-H-TiO2) by nucleophilic addition reaction. Improving the adsorption capabilities of C. I. reactive red 2 (RR2) and simultaneously separating the photogenerated carriers via the nitrogen cation of the quaternary ammonium groups facilitated the enhancement of its RR2 removal. The experimental results indicated that the utilization of QAS-H-TiO2 substantially bolstered the removal efficiency of RR2. The impact of molecular structure of quaternary ammonium salts on the adsorption ability of RR2, and the mechanism of regulation for photogenerated carriers, were investigated. It was found that the grafting of the quaternary ammonium group enabled mass and electron transfer channels, resulting in faster adsorption of dyes and separation of photogenerated carriers. This study presents a novel approach for preparing efficient QAS-H-TiO2 for high-performance organic dye removal.