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Photocatalytic measurements of TiO 2 /MWCNT catalysts having different surface coverage
Author(s) -
Réti Balázs,
Németh Krisztián,
Németh Zoltán,
Mogyorósi Károly,
Markó Kata,
Erdőhelyi András,
Dombi András,
Hernadi Klara
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201100080
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , anatase , materials science , catalysis , titanium dioxide , rutile , nanocomposite , chemical engineering , calcination , titanium oxide , annealing (glass) , amorphous solid , adsorption , scanning electron microscope , nanotechnology , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
Photocatalytic oxidation using TiO 2 is one way to deal with pollutant compounds. Due to literature data, further improvement can be achieved by using MWCNT‐based nanocomposites as photocatalysts. TiO 2 /multiwall carbon nanotube composite photocatalysts were synthetized by sol–gel method with different level coverages. As‐prepared catalysts were characterized with transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). These investigations revealed that we could fabricate MWCNT composite either homogenously, inhomogenously or barely coated with TiO 2 . XRD results showed that after annealing the amorphous titanium oxide–hydroxide formed anatase phase titanium dioxide which is photocatalytically more active than rutile phase TiO 2 . Catalysts were tested in both gas and liquid phase photocatalytic reactions using Aeroxide (Degussa) P25 as reference. The concentrations of model compounds were measured by GC and HPLC techniques. As a result of catalytic tests, we have found correlation between morphology and photocatalytic activity. Preferred adsorption of test molecules on MWCNT surface can be a key step of the reaction.