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Preparation and activity evaluation of TiO2/Cu-TiO2 composite catalysts

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Abstract

TiO2/Cu-TiO2 composite catalysts were prepared by mixing hydrothermal-derived TiO2 and Cu-TiO2 nanoparticles followed by grinding and drying. These composite catalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscop, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, UV–visible diffuse reflection spectrum, photoluminescence spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst was evaluated by photocatalytic rate of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The sample of TiO2/Cu-TiO2 composite photocatalyst exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity than that of both Cu-TiO2 and pure TiO2 powders, which is mainly ascribed to the inhibition of electron-recombination in TiO2/Cu-TiO2 composite photocatalysts. 0.5 mol% Cu-TiO2 and pure TiO2 nanoparticles were mixed at a ratio of 7.7 % had the best photocatalytic activity whose apparent rate constant was about 2.2 times as large as that of pure TiO2, and about 1.2 times as large as that of 0.5 mol% Cu-TiO2.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from Tianjin Science and technology support program (No. 12ZCZDJC35600).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Jing Ya, Ningning Yang, Fengjiao Hu, Zhifeng Liu & Lei E

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  1. Jing Ya
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  2. Ningning Yang
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  4. Zhifeng Liu
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Correspondence to Jing Ya.

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Ya, J., Yang, N., Hu, F. et al. Preparation and activity evaluation of TiO2/Cu-TiO2 composite catalysts. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 73, 322–331 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-014-3535-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-014-3535-x

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