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Acid acting as redispersing agent to form stable colloids from photoactive crystalline aqueous sol–gel TiO2 powder
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Acid acting as redispersing agent to form stable colloids from photoactive crystalline aqueous sol–gel TiO2 powder

Julien G Mahy, Fabien Deschamps, Valerie Collard, Christine Jérôme, John R Bartlett, Stephanie D Lambert and Benoit Heinrichs
Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology, Vol.87(3), pp.568-583
2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4751-6
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4751-6View
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Abstract

aqueous TiO2 sol-gel synthesis redispersion property photocatalysis recycling Fe doping colloid stability
In this work, the redispersion of three nanocrystalline TiO2 colloids is studied: one pure and two Fe-doped titania. These three colloids are produced by an easy aqueous sol-gel synthesis using precipitation-acidic peptization of Ti precursor. For the two Fe-doped TiO2, one is doped during synthesis (primary doping) and the other is doped after the synthesis (secondary doping). The initial colloids are composed of crystalline TiO2 particles around 7 nm with good photocatalytic properties, tested on PNP degradation under visible light (wavelength >390 nm). The powders obtained by air drying of these three colloids are redispersed in water to produce colloids, which are compared to the initial colloid produced. For each colloid, five cycles of drying redispersion are achieved. The colloids are characterized by dynamic light scattering, zeta potential measurements, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements, Mössbauer spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and photocatalytic tests. The results show that similar products are obtained between the cycles, maintaining homologous properties of colloids. This property of redispersion is mainly due to the acid (HNO3, HCl, or H2SO4) which protonates the surface of the TiO2 nanoparticle leading to high-surface charges and electrostatic repulsions between aggregates. This property can be very useful for industrial applications of this synthesis, especially as it allows the volume and weight to be reduced for transportation and storage. Moreover, results show that the pure TiO2 powder can be doped during its redispersion step. The redispersion of the TiO2 developed here is possible without surface functionalization or multiple step processes, contrary to commercial Degussa P25. A 2-year stability study of all the produced colloids has been performed by following the evolution of the macroscopic aspect and the physicochemical properties of these sols. This study showed high stability of the produced colloids. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

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