Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Titania Nanocubes, Nanospheres and Nanorods for Photocatalytic Dye Degradation

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters 2009-02, Vol.4 (2), p.144-152, Article 144
• Main Authors: Suprabha, T, Roy, Haizel G, Thomas, Jesty, Praveen Kumar, K, Mathew, Suresh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atomic force microscopy; Catalytic activity; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cubes; Degradation; Dyes; Electron microscopy; Infrared spectroscopy; Irradiation; Light irradiation; Materials Science; Methylene blue; Microwave radiation; Molecular Medicine; Morphology; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanorods; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanospheres; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Photoluminescence; Photons; Rods; Scanning electron microscopy; Surface area; Synthesis; Titanium dioxide; Transmission electron microscopy; Ultraviolet radiation; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 1556-276X; 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11671-008-9214-5

TiO 2 nanostructures with fascinating morphologies like cubes, spheres, and rods were synthesized by a simple microwave irradiation technique. Tuning of different morphologies was achieved by changing the pH and the nature of the medium or the precipitating agent. As-synthesized titania nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–visible spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy (IR), BET surface area, photoluminescence (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. Photocatalytic dye degradation studies were conducted using methylene blue under ultraviolet light irradiation. Dye degradation ability for nanocubes was found to be superior to the spheres and the rods and can be attributed to the observed high surface area of nanocubes. As-synthesized titania nanostructures have shown higher photocatalytic activity than the commercial photocatalyst Degussa P25 TiO 2 .