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Effect of reaction variables on facet-controlled synthesis of anatase TiO2 photocatalysts

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Abstract

This study reports the effect of various reaction variables of a tailor-made sol–gel synthesis method on the morphology and photocatalytic behaviour of nanostructured anatase TiO2 photocatalysts. Reaction variables like solvent effects, hydrothermal and microwave conditions, type of capping agents and calcination affect the TiO2 crystal growth, and thereby, their optimal conditions are anticipated and discussed in detail. It is proposed that TiO2 exposed with characteristic facets can be prepared by a hydrothermal-modified sol–gel method employing a quaternary solution system at pH 3 along with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the capping agent. The optimal hydrothermal temperature affected the restructuring and crystallization of TiO2 by enhancing the phase transformation from amorphous to anatase. TiO2 crystal growth under microwave assistance was faster, which primarily resulted in low-energy facets exposure. The primary determination of photocatalytic efficiency of the samples was obtained from the photodegradation profiles of model dye methylene blue. An interesting find was that TiO2 synthesized under hydrothermal treatment in the presence of CTAB had a morphology determining behaviour at pH 3 favouring the selective stabilization of co-exposing high energy {010}/{100}, {001} and low energy {101} facets in TiO2. The optimum percentage of high- and low-energy facets resulted in superior photocatalytic activity due to the spatial separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Furthermore, the present study has a great perspective on how particularly the reaction variables determine the direction of crystal growth of nano TiO2 and thereby its morphology that directly affect its photocatalytic efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

NTP greatly acknowledges the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and Human Resource Development Group, India (grant no: 09/239(0513)/2016-EMR-I), for providing necessary fellowships and funds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kalamassery, 682022, India

    Nisha T Padmanabhan, Jayalatha Gopalakrishnan & Honey John

  2. Inter University Centre for Nanomaterials and Devices, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kalamassery, 682022, India

    Honey John

Authors
  1. Nisha T Padmanabhan
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  2. Jayalatha Gopalakrishnan
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  3. Honey John
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Honey John.

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Padmanabhan, N.T., Gopalakrishnan, J. & John, H. Effect of reaction variables on facet-controlled synthesis of anatase TiO2 photocatalysts. Bull Mater Sci 45, 59 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-021-02637-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-021-02637-6

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