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Synthesis and characterization of N-modified titania nanotubes for photocatalytic applications

  • Advanced Oxidation Technologies: Advances and Challenges in IberoAmerican Countries
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Abstract

The modification of titanate nanotubes (TiNT) with nitrogen (NTiNT) was accomplished through impregnation method. TiNT were synthesized via hydrothermal treatment of titania powders in NaOH solution at 130 °C for 48 h. The obtained samples were characterized by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, XRD, TEM, XPS, and TG analysis. Structure, morphology, composition, and visible light absorption property of nitrogen-modified TiO2 nanotubes are found to depend on the nitrogen content and not on the calcination temperature for the range used in this work. The photocatalytic activity of these nanotubes was investigated for the degradation of methylethylketone (MEK) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) under ultraviolet and solar light radiation. MEK is very resistant to photocatalytic degradation with the prepared materials;, however, the results show that modification of the TiNT with nitrogen in a proportion of 1 to 1 (TiNT to urea weight ratio) and calcination at 400 °C lead to materials with high photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet radiation and moderate photocatalytic activity under solar radiation for degradation of H2S.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support for this work was mainly provided by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the project PTDC/EQU-EQU/100554/2008. This work was also supported by projects PEst-C/EQB/LA0020/2013 and PEst-OE/QUI/UI0616/2014, financed by FCT and FEDER through COMPETE—Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade, and by QREN, ON2 (Programa Operacional do Norte) and FEDER through projects NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000050, NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000015, and NORTE-07-0202-FEDER-38900. Ricardo A. Monteiro and F.V.S. Lopes would like to acknowledge FCT for their PhD (SFRH/BD/69323/2010) and Post-doc (SFRH/BPD/73894/2010) Research Fellowships, respectively. R.A.R. Monteiro gratefully acknowledge Yas Yamin, Anne Roemer, Nicolas Keller and Valerie Keller from ICPEES—Institut de Chimie et Procédés pour l’Energie, l’Environnement et la Santé, CNRS and University of Strasbourg, France, for the human and scientific knowledge shared, as well as for providing experimental facilities. V.J.P. Vilar and A.M.T. Silva acknowledge the FCT Investigator 2013 Programme (IF/01501/2013 and IF/00273/2013, respectively), with financing from the European Social Fund and the Human Potential Operational Programme

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  1. LSRE-Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, Associate Laboratory LSRE/LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Ricardo A. R. Monteiro, Filipe V. S. Lopes, Rui A. R. Boaventura & Vítor J. P. Vilar

  2. LCM-Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials, Associate Laboratory LSRE/LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Adrián M. T. Silva

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  1. Ricardo A. R. Monteiro
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  2. Filipe V. S. Lopes
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Correspondence to Adrián M. T. Silva or Vítor J. P. Vilar.

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Monteiro, R.A.R., Lopes, F.V.S., Boaventura, R.A.R. et al. Synthesis and characterization of N-modified titania nanotubes for photocatalytic applications. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 810–819 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2943-3

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