TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of surfactant on sol-gel-prepared TiO2
T2 - characterization and photocatalytic dye degradation in water
AU - Mkhohlakali, Andile
AU - Jen, Tien Chien
AU - Ledwaba, Kabelo
AU - Mapukata, Sivuyisiwe
AU - Mabowa, Happy Mothepane
AU - Letsoalo, Mokgehle R.
AU - Ntsasa, Napo
AU - Tshilongo, James
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2024 Mkhohlakali, Jen, Ledwaba, Mapukata, Mabowa, Letsoalo, Ntsasa and Tshilongo.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - In this study, Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nano-powder was prepared using a sol-gel process with and without surfactant. A typical non-ionic surfactant (Triton X-100) was used during the process. The phase compositions of TiO2 and surfactant-assisted TiO2 (TiO2-sa) were investigated by FTIR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) was used to determine the nano-powder’s specific surface area and pore size distribution. Moreover, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis exhibited particle size in the range of 65–85 nm and polycrystalline phase, respectively. UV-vis spectrophotometer showed high absorption as dominating the visible region (438–450 nm) with relative redshift and reduced bandgap from 2.98 to 3.12 eV upon adding surfactant on TiO2. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) exhibits high purity TiO2 with more than 82% composition with the lowest relative standard deviation (RSD %). Moreover, the photoluminescence (PL) of TiO2-sa showed enhanced oxygen vacancies and surface defects which reduce the direct electron-photon (e/h+) pair recombination. TiO2-sa illustrated promising characteristic features of an active photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants.
AB - In this study, Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nano-powder was prepared using a sol-gel process with and without surfactant. A typical non-ionic surfactant (Triton X-100) was used during the process. The phase compositions of TiO2 and surfactant-assisted TiO2 (TiO2-sa) were investigated by FTIR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) was used to determine the nano-powder’s specific surface area and pore size distribution. Moreover, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis exhibited particle size in the range of 65–85 nm and polycrystalline phase, respectively. UV-vis spectrophotometer showed high absorption as dominating the visible region (438–450 nm) with relative redshift and reduced bandgap from 2.98 to 3.12 eV upon adding surfactant on TiO2. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) exhibits high purity TiO2 with more than 82% composition with the lowest relative standard deviation (RSD %). Moreover, the photoluminescence (PL) of TiO2-sa showed enhanced oxygen vacancies and surface defects which reduce the direct electron-photon (e/h+) pair recombination. TiO2-sa illustrated promising characteristic features of an active photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants.
KW - MB degradation
KW - optical properties
KW - sol-gel
KW - surfactant assisted
KW - TiO nano-powder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85200837034&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fceng.2024.1352283
DO - 10.3389/fceng.2024.1352283
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85200837034
SN - 2673-2718
VL - 6
JO - Frontiers in Chemical Engineering
JF - Frontiers in Chemical Engineering
M1 - 1352283
ER -