Sol-Gel Preparation, Characterization and Photocatalytic Activity of Nanostructured TiO2 Nanoparticles

Abstract

ABSTRACTTo establish a promising method for the purification of air containing volatile organic compounds, TiO2 nanoparticles with interesting physicochemical properties were prepared by the sol-gel method to perform the photocatalytic decomposition of acetaldehyde. The obtained samples were characterized by the x-ray diffraction -Rietveld refinement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the Brunauer, Emmet and Teller (BET) model. According to the results, the sample that presented the highest activity (96.4%) in the photocatalytic oxidation of acetaldehyde was the one annealed at 200 °C. This material showed the presence of a mixture of the anatase (higher proportion) and brookite phases, nanometric crystal size (7.03 nm) and high surface area (189 m2g-1). The physicochemical properties present in the TiO2-P-200°C nanoparticles suggest that they may establish a photoassisted reaction process for air purification, in which volatile organic compounds are photocatalitically decomposed.