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Comparative study of the TiO2 nanopowders prepared from different precursors and chemical methods for heterogeneous photocatalysis application

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Abstract

A comparative thermal analysis study was realized by the thermogravimetric and thermodifferential analysis (TG/DTG/DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on TiO2 system. This study is to establish the influence of the preparation method on thermal behavior of powders obtained by different methods as follows: the sol–gel (SG), microwave-assisted sol–gel (MW) and hydrothermal (HT) methods. Titanium (IV) ethoxide, titanium (IV) isopropoxide and titanium (IV) butoxide were used as TiO2 precursors, as well as the parental alcohol as solvent, and the hydrolyzing agent (ammonia containing water) was added drop by drop to obtain a solution with pH 10. Based on TG/DTG/DTA results, the temperature of 450 °C was chosen for the processing of powders in air. Morphology and structure of the calcinated powders were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The SEM images show spherical nano-sized particles and X-ray diffractograms for all samples calcinated at 450 °C show crystallization in a single phase of TiO2 (anatase). According to the activation energy, Ea, values calculated by Kissinger and Ozawa methods, amorphous-to-anatase transition is facilitated in the microwaved-assisted samples in comparison with the sol–gel derived samples. The photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 samples toward the degradation of methyl orange (MO) was evaluated, the sample denoted Ti-Bu-SG being the most effective removing a total of ~99% of the dye in 180 min, while Ti-Bu-MW presented the lowest degradation efficiency, about 82%.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the research programme “Materials Science and Advanced Methods for Characterization” of “Ilie Murgulescu” Institute of Physical Chemistry, financed by the Roumanian Academy and by a grant from the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation, PCCDI-UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P1-1.2-PCCDI-2017-0476/51PCCDI/2018, within PNCDI III. The authors thank Dr. Maria Elena Anghel from “Ilie Murgulescu” Institute of Physical Chemistry for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ‘‘Ilie Murgulescu’’ Institute of Physical Chemistry, Romanian Academy, 202 Splaiul Independentei, 060021, Bucharest, Romania

    Jeanina Pandele-Cusu, Simona Petrescu, Silviu Preda, Gabriela Petcu, Madalina Ciobanu & Luminita Predoana

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  1. Jeanina Pandele-Cusu
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Contributions

JP-C contributed to formal analysis, investigation, and writing—original draft; SP contributed to formal analysis, investigation, and writing—original draft; SP contributed to formal analysis, investigation, and writing—original draft; GP contributed to formal analysis and investigation; MC contributed to investigation and writing—original draft; LP contributed to conceptualization, project administration, methodology, writing—original draft, and visualization.

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Correspondence to Simona Petrescu, Silviu Preda or Luminita Predoana.

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Pandele-Cusu, J., Petrescu, S., Preda, S. et al. Comparative study of the TiO2 nanopowders prepared from different precursors and chemical methods for heterogeneous photocatalysis application. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 13111–13124 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-022-11544-9

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