The effect of titanium dioxide synthesis technique and its photocatalytic degradation of organic dye pollutants

David Dodoo-Arhin; Frederick Paakwah Buabeng; Julius M Mwabora; Prince Nana Amaniampong; Henry Agbe; Emmanuel Nyankson; David Olubiyi Obada; Nana Yaw Asiedu

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00681

The effect of titanium dioxide synthesis technique and its photocatalytic degradation of organic dye pollutants

Heliyon. 2018 Jul 17;4(7):e00681. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00681. eCollection 2018 Jul.

Authors

David Dodoo-Arhin^{1

2

3}, Frederick Paakwah Buabeng^{1

2}, Julius M Mwabora^{2

4}, Prince Nana Amaniampong³, Henry Agbe⁵, Emmanuel Nyankson¹, David Olubiyi Obada⁶, Nana Yaw Asiedu⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ghana, P.O. Box Lg 77, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
² African Materials Science and Engineering Network (A Carnegie-IAS RISE Network), Ghana.
³ INCREASE (FR CNRS 3707), ENSIP, 1 rue Marcel Doré, TSA41105, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197-00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
⁵ Centre Universitaire de Recherche sur l'Aluminium, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Québec G7H 2B1, Canada.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
⁷ Department of Chemical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

Abstract

Nanostructured mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO₂) particles with high specific surface area and average crystallite domain sizes within 2 nm and 30 nm have been prepared via the sol-gel and hydrothermal procedures. The characteristics of produced nanoparticles have been tested using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR), and Raman Spectroscopy as a function of temperature for their microstructural, porosity, morphological, structural and absorption properties. The as-synthesized TiO₂ nanostructures were attempted as catalysts in Rhodamine B and Sudan III dyes' photocatalytic decomposition in a batch reactor with the assistance of Ultra Violet (UV) light. The results show that for catalysts calcined at 300 °C, ∼100 % decomposition of Sudan III dye was observed when Hydrothermal based catalyst was used whiles ∼94 % decomposition of Rhodamine B dye was observed using the sol-gel based catalysts. These synthesized TiO₂ nanoparticles have promising potential applications in the light aided decomposition of a wide range of dye pollutants.

Keywords: Materials science.