Abstract
The anatase phase of titania (TiO2) nano-photocatalysts was prepared using a modified sol gel process and thereafter embedded on carbon-covered alumina supports. The carbon-covered alumina (CCA) supports were prepared via the adsorption of toluene 2,4-diisocyanate (TDI) on the surface of the alumina. TDI was used as the carbon source for the first time for the carbon-covered alumina support system. The adsorption of TDI on alumina is irreversible; hence, the resulting organic moiety can undergo pyrolysis at high temperatures resulting in the formation of a carbon coating on the surface of the alumina. The TiO2 catalysts were impregnated on the CCA supports. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the carbon deposited on the alumina was not crystalline and also showed the successful impregnation of TiO2 on the CCA supports. In the Raman spectra, it could be deduced that the carbon was rather a conjugated olefinic or polycyclic hydrocarbons which can be considered as molecular units of a graphitic plane. The Raman analysis of the catalysed CCAs showed the presence of both the anatase titania and D and G band associated with the carbon of the CCAs. The scanning electron microscope micrographs indicated that the alumina was coated by a carbon layer and the energy dispersive X-ray spectra showed the presence of Al, O and C in the CCA samples, with the addition of Ti for the catalyst impregnated supports. The Brunauer Emmet and Teller surface area analysis showed that the incorporating of carbon on the alumina surface resulted in an increase in surface area, while the impregnation with TiO2 resulted in a further increase in surface area. However, a decrease in the pore volume and diameter was observed. The photocatalytic activity of the nanocatalysts was studied for the degradation of Rhodamine B dye. The CCA-TiO2 nanocatalysts were found to be more photocatalytically active under both visible and UV light irradiation compared to the free TIO2 nanocatalysts.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahn W-Y, Sheeley SA, Rajh T, Cropek DM (2007) Photocatalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol with arginine-modified titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Appl Catal B Environ 74:103–110. doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2007.01.016
Anandan S, Kumar PS, Pugazhenthiran N, Madhavan J, Maruthamuthu P (2008) Effect of loaded silver nanoparticles on TiO2 for photocatalytic degradation of Acid Red 88. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 92:929–937. doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2008.02.020
Ao Y, Xu J, Fu D, Yuan C (2008) Preparation of Ag-doped mesoporous titania and its enhanced photocatalytic activity under UV light irradiation. J Phys Chem Solids 69:2660–2664. doi:10.1016/j.jpcs.2008.06.100
Bessekhouad Y, Robert D, Weber JV (2003) Synthesis of photocatalytic TiO2 nanoparticles: optimization of the preparation conditions. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 157:47–53. doi:10.1016/s1010-6030(03)00077-7
Błachnio M, Staszczuk P, Grodzicka G, Lin L, Zhu YX (2007) Adsorption and porosity properties of carbon-covered alumina surfaces. J Therm Anal Calorim 88(2):601–606. doi:10.1007/s10973-006-8067-3
Boorman PM, Chong K (1992) A comparative gas oil hydroprocessing study of alumina, carbon, and carbon-covered alumina supported Ni–Mo catalyst: effect of quinoline, thiophene, and vanadium spiking. Energy Fuels 6:300–307. doi:10.1021/ef00033a10
Boorman P, Chong K (1993) Preparation of carbon-covered alumina using fluorohydrocarbons: a new acidic support material. Appl Catal A Gen 95:197–210. doi:10.1016/0926-860x(93)85074-y
Calandra P, Lombardo D, Pistone V, Liveri T, Trusso C (2010) Structural and optical properties of novel surfactant-coated Yb@TiO2 nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res. doi:10.1007/s11051-010-0133-x
Chen X, Mao SS (2007) Titanium dioxide nanomaterials: synthesis, properties, modifications, and applications. Chem Rev 107:2891–2959. doi:10.1021/cr0500535
Colmenares JC, Aramendia MA, Marinas A, Marinas J, Urbano F (2006) Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of different metal-doped titania systems. Appl Catal A Gen 306:120–127. doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2006.03.046
Fang WQ, Zhou JZ, Liu J, Chen ZG, Yang C, Sun CH, Qian GR, Zou J, Qiao SZ (2011) Hierarchical structures of single-crystalline anatase TiO2 nanosheets dominated by 001 facets. Chem Eur J 17:1423–1427. doi:10.1002/chem.201002582
Foglia FD, Losco T, Piseri P, Milani P, Selli E (2009) Photocatalytic activity of nanostructured TiO2 films produced by supersonic cluster beam deposition. J Nanopart Res 11:1339–1348. doi:10.1007/s11051-009-9691-1
Foster HA, Ditta IB, Varghese S, Steele A (2011) Photocatalytic disinfection using titanium dioxide: spectrum and mechanism of antimicrobial activity. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 90:1847–1868. doi:10.1007/s00253-011-3213-7
Fu W, Yang H, Li M, Li M, Yang N, Zou G (2005) Anatase TiO2 nanolayer coating on cobalt ferrite nanoparticles for magnetic photocatalyst. Mater Lett 59:3530–3534. doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2005.06.071
He Z, Sun C, Yang S, Ding Y, He H, Wang Z (2009) Photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B by Bi2WO6 with electron accepting agent under microwave irradiation: mechanism and pathway. J Hazard Mater 162:1477–1486. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.06.047
Hoffmann MR, Martin ST, Choi W, Bahnemannt DW (1995) Environmental applications of semiconductor photocatalysis. Chem Rev 95:69–96. doi:10.1016/j.ces.2007.06.030
Jana P, Ganesan V (2011) The production of a carbon-coated alumina foam. Carbon 49:3292–3298. doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2011.04.005
Lei Y, Zhang LD, Fan JC (2001) Fabrication, characterization and Raman study of TiO2 nanowire arrays prepared by anodic oxidative hydrolysis of TiCl3. Chem Phys Lett 338:231–236. doi:10.1021/s0009-2614(01)00263-9
Li X, Xiong R, Wei G (2008) S–N Co-doped TiO2 photocatalysts with visible-light activity prepared by sol–gel method. Catal Lett 125:104–109. doi:10.1007/s10562-008-9521-6
Lin L, Lin W, Zhu YX, Zhao BY, Xie YC, He Y, Zhu YF (2005a) Uniform carbon-covered titania and its photocatalytic property. J Mol Catal 236:46–53. doi:10.1016/j.molcata.2005.04.028
Lin L, Lin W, Zhu YX, Zhao BY, Xie YC, Jia GQ, Li C (2005b) Uniformly carbon-covered alumina and its surface characteristics. Langmuir 21(11):5040–5046. doi:10.1021/la047097d
Maity SK, Flores L, Ancheyta J, Fukuyama H (2009) Carbon-modified alumina and alumina-carbon supported hydrotreating catalysts. Ind Eng Chem Res 48:1190–1195. doi:10.1021/ie800606p
Mori K, Maki K, Kawasaki S, Yuan S, Yamashita H (2008) Hydrothermal synthesis of TiO2 photocatalysts in the presence of NH4F and their application for degradation of organic compounds. Chem Eng Sci 63:5066–5070. doi:10.1016/j.ces.2007.06.030
Natarajan TS, Thomas M, Natarajan K, Bajaj HC, Tayade RJ (2011) Study on UV-LED/TiO2 process for degradation of Rhodamine B dye. Chem Eng J 169:126–134. doi:10.1016/j.cej.2011.02.066
Navio JA, Colon G, Macias M, Real C, Litter MI (1999) Iron-doped titania semiconductor powders prepared by a sol-gel method. Part I: synthesis and characterization. Appl Catal A Gen 177:111–120. doi:10.1016/s0926-860x(98)00255-5
Ohsaka T, Izumi F, Fujiki Y (1978) Raman spectrum of anatase TiO2. J Raman Spectrosc 7(6):321–324. doi:10.1002/jrs.1250070605
Paek C, Mccormick AV, Carr PW (2010) Preparation and evaluation of carbon coated alumina as a high surface area packing material for high performance liquid chromatography. J Chromatogr A 1217:6475–6483. doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2010.08.037
Polyánszky É, Petró J (1990) Relationship between selectivity and hydrogen sorption of carbon-supported palladium catalysts. Appl Catal 62:335–347. doi:10.1016/s0166-9834(00)82256-3
Rao KSR, Rao PK, Masthan SK, Kaluschnaya L, Shur VB (1990) New type of carbon coated alumina supports for the preparation of highly active ruthenium catalysts for ammonia synthesis. Appl Catal 62:L19–L22. doi:10.1016/s0166-9834(00)82229-0
Sharanda LF, Plyuto YV, Babich IV, Plyuto IV, Shpak AP, Stoch J, Moulijn JA (2006) Synthesis and characterisation of hybrid carbon-alumina support. Appl Surf Sci 252:8549–8556. doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2005.11.078
Shashikala V, Kumar VS, Padmasri AH, Raju BD, Mohan SV, Sarma KS, Rao KSR (2007) Advantages of nano-silver-carbon covered alumina catalyst prepared by electro-chemical method for drinking water purification. J Mol Catal A Chem 268:95–100. doi:10.1016/j.molcata.2006.10.019
Tian G, Fu H, Jing L, Tian C (2009) Synthesis and photocatalytic activity of stable nanocrystalline TiO2 with high crystallinity and large surface area. J Hazard Mater 161:1122–1130. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.04.065
Ulgen A, Hoelderich WF (2011) Conversion of glycerol to acrolein in the presence of WO3/TiO2 catalysts. Appl Catal A Gen 400:34–38. doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2011.04.005
Vissers J, Mercx F, Bouwens S, de Beer V, Prins R (1988) Carbon-covered alumina as a support for sulfide catalysts. J Catal 114:291–302. doi:10.1016/0021-9517(88)90033-4
Wang J, Li R, Zhang Z (2008) Degradation of hazardous dyes in wastewater using nanometer mixed crystal TiO2 powders under visible light irradiation. Water Air Soil Pollut 189:225–237. doi:10.1007/s11270-007-9570-2
Yu J, Zhang J (2010) A simple template-free approach to TiO2 hollow spheres with enhanced photocatalytic activity. Dalton Trans 39:5860–5867. doi:10.1039/c0dr00053a
Yu JC, Lin J, Kwok RWM (1997) Enhanced photocatalytic activity of Til−x V x O2 solid solution on the degradation of acetone. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 111:199–201. doi:1010-6030(97)00207-4
Zheng M, Shu Y, Sun J, Zhang T (2008) Carbon-covered alumina: a superior support of noble metal-like catalysts for hydrazine decomposition. Catal Lett 121:90–96. doi:10.1007/s10562-007-9300-9
Zhu J, Zhang J, Chen F, Iino K, Anpo M (2005) High activity TiO2 photocatalysts prepared by a modified sol–gel method: characterization and their photocatalytic activity for the degradation of XRG and X-GL. Top Catal 35(3–4):261–268. doi:10.1007/s11244-005-3833-1
Zhu J, Yang D, Geng J, Chen D, Jiang Z (2008) Synthesis and characterization of bamboo-like CdS/TiO2 nanotubes composites with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity. J Nanopart Res 10:729–736. doi:10.1007/s11051-0007-9301-z
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the University of Johannesburg for financial support and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India for providing the infrastructure to carry out some of this research work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Special Issue Editors: Mamadou Diallo, Neil Fromer, Myung S. Jhon
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Nanotechnology for Sustainable Development
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mahlambi, M.M., Mishra, A.K., Mishra, S.B. et al. Synthesis and characterization of carbon-covered alumina (CCA) supported TiO2 nanocatalysts with enhanced visible light photodegradation of Rhodamine B. J Nanopart Res 14, 790 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-0790-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-0790-z