Abstract

Energy crisis is one of the most urgent tasks of today, and the utilization of solar power is regarded as one powerful way to solve this problem. In this aspect, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is especially interesting as it is an efficient material that can convert solar power into energies that can be directly used in our daily life. Consequently, various studies and patents relating to the preparation and modification of TiO2 have been reported and issued, to accelerate its practical application. In this work, we synthesized nano-sized TiO2 particles by hydrothermal method under different conditions and investigated its photocatalytic performances for degradation of ethane. Results indicated that for solvents neutral water, acidic water and ethanol, only use neutral water could the product possesses mesoporous structure. Further studies indicated that the particle size increases and the surface area decreases with increasing the calcination temperature. The TiO2 hydrolyzed at 100 °C and calcined at 500 °C showed average particle size of 13.5 nm and surface area of 73 m2/g. No obvious change in the textural properties was observed, but an increase in the surface hydroxyl groups was found for TiO2 hydrolyzed at different temperatures. Photocatalytic tests on C2H4 degradation reaction (C2H4 → CO2) indicated that the TiO2 synthesized in this work is more active than the standard Degussa P25 TiO2, in particular for the one hydrolyzed at high temperature (i.e. 120 °C), which possesses the largest amount of surface hydroxyl groups.

Keywords: Nanoparticles, TiO2, Hydrothermal method, Photocatalysis, C2H4 degradation, HITACHI S-2700, XRD patterns, N2-sorption isothermals