Effect of calcination temperature on structural and photocatalyst properties of nanofibers prepared from low-cost natural ilmenite mineral by simple hydrothermal method

Journal Article · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Materials Research Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATERRESBULL.2013.04.083· OSTI ID:22341766

Simpraditpan, Athapon ^[1]; Wirunmongkol, Thanakorn ^[2]; Pavasupree, Sorapong ^[2]; Pecharapa, Wisanu ^[1]

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1. College of Nanotechnology, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520 (Thailand)
2. Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, Klong 6, Pathumthani 12110 (Thailand)

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Nanofibers were prepared from low-cost ilmenite mineral via simple hydrothermal. • High photocatalyst nanofibers were prepared via post heat treatment method. • The nanofibers calcined at 100–700 °C for 2 h maintained nanofiber structure. • The calcined nanofibers at 400 °C showed the highest photocatalytic activity. - Abstract: Titanate nanofibers were synthesized via the hydrothermal method (120 °C for 72 h) using natural ilmenite mineral (FeTiO{sub 3}) as the starting material. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescent (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) for specific surface area. The nanofibers were 20–90 nm in diameter and 2–7 μm in length. The as-synthesized nanofibers calcined at 300–400 °C showed TiO{sub 2} (B) whereas the nanofibers calcined at 500 °C revealed a mixture of two phases of TiO{sub 2} (B) and anatase. The nanofibers calcined at high temperature of 600–1000 °C showed a mixture of tri-crystalline of anatase, rutile, and Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}. The rutile phase increased with increasing calcination temperature. The nanofibers calcined at 300–700 °C maintained their structure while the morphology of the nanofibers calcined at 800–1000 °C transformed into submicron rod-like structure. This increase of calcination temperature led to the phase transformation from thermodynamically metastable anatase to the most stable form of rutile phase. The crystallite size of prepared samples increased with increasing calcination temperature. Interestingly, with increasing calcination temperature, the absorption edge of the prepared samples shows an obvious shift to visible light region due to the change of crystallite phase and increased crystallite size. Therefore, the band gap energy of the prepared samples became narrower with increasing calcination temperature. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity of the nanofibers calcined at 400 °C for 2 h was found to be not merely higher than those of the commercially available TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles powders (P-25, JRC-01, and JRC-03) but also the highest of all the samples in this study.

• OSTI ID: 22341766
• Journal Information: Materials Research Bulletin, Vol. 48, Issue 9; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0025-5408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ABSORPTION
CALCINATION
FERRITES
FLUORESCENCE
HEAT TREATMENTS
HYDROTHERMAL SYNTHESIS
ILMENITE
IRON OXIDES
MIXTURES
NANOFIBERS
NANOPARTICLES
PHOTOCATALYSIS
RUTILE
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
TITANATES
TITANIUM OXIDES
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X RADIATION
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS