Sol-Gel-Assisted Microwave-Derived Synthesis of Anatase Ag/TiO2/GO Nanohybrids toward Efficient Visible Light Phenol Degradation

A simple microwave-assisted (MWI) wet chemical route to synthesize pure anatase phase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) is reported here using titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) as starting material. The as-prepared TiO2 NPs were characterized by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV/visi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Catalysts 2017-05, Vol.7 (12), p.133
Main Authors: Alsharaeh, E. H., Bora, T., Soliman, A., Ahmed, Faheem, Bharath, G., Ghoniem, M. G., Abu-Salah, Khalid M., Dutta, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption spectroscopy
Anatase
Catalysts
Catalytic activity
Chemical reactions
Chemical synthesis
Contaminants
Degradation
Dioxides
Electromagnetic absorption
Electron microscopy
Excitation
Graphene
graphene oxide
Infrared spectroscopy
Light
Light irradiation
Nanocomposites
Nanoparticles
Organic chemistry
Phenols
Photocatalysis
photocatalysts
Silver
TiO2
Titanium dioxide
X-ray diffraction
XRD
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Summary:A simple microwave-assisted (MWI) wet chemical route to synthesize pure anatase phase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) is reported here using titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) as starting material. The as-prepared TiO2 NPs were characterized by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV/visible absorption spectroscopy, and infrared and Raman spectroscopic techniques. Further modification of the anatase TiO2 NPs was carried out by incorporating plasmonic silver (Ag) NPs and graphene oxide (GO) in order to enhance the visible light absorption. The photocatalytic activities of the anatase TiO2, Ag/TiO2, and Ag/TiO2/GO nanocomposites were evaluated under both ultraviolet (UV) and visible light irradiation using phenol as a model contaminant. The presence of Ag NPs was found to play a significant role to define the photocatalytic activity of the Ag/TiO2/GO nanocomposite. It was found that the Ag performed like a sink under UV excitation and stored photo-generated electrons from TiO2, whereas, under visible light excitation, the Ag acted as a photosensitizer enhancing the photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite. The detailed mechanism was studied based on photocatalytic activities of Ag/TiO2/GO nanocomposites. Therefore, the as-prepared Ag/TiO2/GO nanocomposite was used as photocatalytic materials under both UV and visible light irradiation toward degradation of organic molecules.
ISSN:2073-4344
2073-4344
DOI:10.3390/catal7050133