Synthesis of titanate nanostructures using amorphous precursor material and their adsorption/photocatalytic properties

TL;DR

This study introduces a rapid hydrothermal method to synthesize titanate nanostructures from amorphous precursors, demonstrating enhanced photocatalytic activity and adsorption capacity compared to traditional TiO2 nanoparticles.

Contribution

It presents a novel, safer synthesis route for titanate nanostructures using amorphous precursors and explores their improved photocatalytic properties.

Findings

Homogeneous titanate nanotubes with high aspect ratio were synthesized at 160°C for 24 hours.

The band gap of the synthesized TNS was 3.06 eV, red-shifted by 0.14 eV from TiO2 anatase.

TNS showed 98% dye degradation efficiency in 45 minutes under irradiation.

Abstract

This paper reports on a new and swift hydrothermal chemical route to prepare titanate nanostructures (TNS) avoiding the use of crystalline TiO2 as starting material. The synthesis approach uses a commercial solution of TiCl3 as titanium source to prepare an amorphous precursor, circumventing the use of hazardous chemical compounds. The influence of the reaction temperature and dwell autoclave time on the structure and morphology of the synthesised materials was studied. Homogeneous titanate nanotubes with a high length/diameter aspect ratio were synthesised at 160^{\circ}C and 24 h. A band gap of 3.06\pm0.03 eV was determined for the TNS samples prepared in these experimental conditions. This value is red shifted by 0.14 eV compared to the band gap value usually reported for the TiO2 anatase. Moreover, such samples show better adsorption capacity and photocatalytic performance on the dye rhodamine 6G (R6G) photodegradation process than TiO2 nanoparticles. A 98% reduction of the R6G concentration was achieved after 45 minutes of irradiation of a 10 ppm dye aqueous solution and 1 g/L of TNS catalyst.