Photo-degradation of Acid-red 3B dye catalyzed by TiO_2 nanotubes

Article type: Research Article

Authors: JIANG, Fang | ZHENG, Shou-rong | ZHENG, Zheng | XU, Zhao-yi | WANG, Yan-jin

Affiliations: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: TiO_2 nanotube precursor was synthesized by the hydrothermal reaction of TiO_2 powders with NaOH solution and the properties of the nanotube materials were tuned using different post-treatments. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) observation revealed that the nanotube could be obtained by either a direct rinse with acid solution or rinse with distilled water followed by acid solution. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis indicated that the nanotube material was composed of H_2Ti_2O_5·H_2. In addition, the photocaalytic activities of the resulting catalysts were found to be strongly dependent on the post-treatment. The results of the photocatalytic reaction showed that the degradation of Acid-red 3B dye fitted pseudo-zero-order kinetics and TiO_2 nanotube prepared under direct rinse with acid solution exhibited a higher catalytic efficiency compared to other catalysts.

Keywords: TiO[TeX:] _2 nanotube, Acid-red 3B, photocatalysis, hydrothermal reaction

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 783-787, 2006