Titanium butoxide molar ratio effect in the TiO2 nanoparticles size and methylene blue degradation

Abstract

This work focuses on the studies of titanium butoxide (Ti(OBu)4) molar ratio effect in the TiO2 nanoparticles size via solvothermal method for methylene blue degradation. The materials used for the synthesis were: Ti(OBu)4 as titanium source, anhydrous ethanol (EtOH) as solvent, and nitric acid (HNO3) as catalyst. The TiO2 nanoparticles demonstrate growth in a pure anatase phase tetragonal crystalline structure, where other phases or amorphous material is not present. The TiO2 nanoparticles reveal a rounded shaped and when the amount of titanium precursor increases, the nanoparticle size decreases. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue is influenced by the nanoparticle size where the material with a 2:30:2 molar ratio, Ti(OBu)4:EtOH:HNO3, presents the minor nanoparticle size and a degradation similar to results obtained by commercial TiO2 (P25) at a time of 90 min.