Synthesis and photocatalytic applications of nano-sized zinc-doped mesoporous titanium oxide

Journal Article · Fri Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2013 · Materials Research Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATERRESBULL.2012.10.032· OSTI ID:22215795

Sánchez-Muñoz, Sergio; Pérez-Quintanilla, Damián ^[1]; Gómez-Ruiz, Santiago ^[1]

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1. Departamento de Química Inorgánica y Analítica, E.S.C.E.T., Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933, Móstoles (Madrid) (Spain)

Graphical abstract: Nano-sized mesoporous titanium oxide (T0) and zinc-doped nano-sized mesoporous titanium oxides (TA–TD) were synthesized by a simple method and characterized by different techniques. All materials have been studied in the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under UV light, observing that the decrease in the band gap of the materials seems to have a positive influence in the photocatalytic activity. Display Omitted Highlights: ► Nano-sized mesoporous TiO{sub 2} and Zn-doped TiO{sub 2} have been synthesized and characterized. ► Band gap of the Zn-doped TiO{sub 2} decreases when the Zn amount increases. ► Materials consist of porous particles (10–20 nm). ► The photocatalytic degradation of MB has been studied for these materials. ► A decrease in the band gap of the materials enhances the photocatalytic activity. -- Abstract: The synthesis of nano-sized mesoporous titanium oxide (T0) is described by an easy synthetic method which consists of the reaction of titanium tetraisopropoxide and a solution of HNO{sub 3} in water (pH 2.0) and the subsequent elimination of the volatiles by simple distillation. On the other hand, zinc-doped mesoporous titanium oxides (TA–TD) were synthesized using the same method but adding increasing amounts of Zn(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} to give materials which contain between 0.12 and 6.17 wt.% Zn. Upon the calcinations of all the obtained materials, characterization has been carried out by using N{sub 2} adsorption–desorption isotherms, powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, UV–vis spectrometry, solid state {sup 47,49}Ti NMR spectroscopy and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). The results show that all these materials are mesoporous, with BET surfaces between 54 and 121 m{sup 2}/g and similar pore diameters between 6.4 and 9.1 nm. XRD studies show that these materials mainly consist of anatase and very small amounts of brookite. TEM technique shows the small particle sizes of the corresponding materials (from 10 to 20 nm) and the porous structure of parallel and straight channels for T0, TA, TB and TC while the order in the porosity of the system is lost in TD. In addition, studies of the Kubelka-Munk function show that the band gap energy of the synthesized materials decreases with the increase of the Zn amount of the material from 3.24 (for T0) to 2.91 eV (for TD). All the studied materials have been studied in the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV light, observing that the decrease in the band gap of the materials seems to have a positive influence in the photocatalytic activity.

• OSTI ID: 22215795
• Journal Information: Materials Research Bulletin, Journal Name: Materials Research Bulletin Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 48; ISSN MRBUAC; ISSN 0025-5408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
DOPED MATERIALS
FLUORESCENCE
METHYLENE BLUE
NANOSTRUCTURES
NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE
PARTICLE SIZE
PHOTOCATALYSIS
POROSITY
SOLIDS
SPECTROSCOPY
SURFACES
SYNTHESIS
TITANIUM OXIDES
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X RADIATION
X-RAY DIFFRACTION