Journal article
How to modify the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 thin films through their roughness by using additives. A relation between kinetics, morphology and synthesis
Chemical Engineering Journal, Vol.243, pp.537-548
2014
Abstract
The possibility to improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 thin films by using organic additives is investigated. Two non-aqueous sol-gel routes (In Situ and Ex Situ) have been selected to obtain organic/inorganic stable sols and TiO2 thin films have been produced using the dip-coating process optimized in a previous study. The influence of the additive on the physico-chemical properties of the catalysts has been evaluated using XRD, GIXRD, UV-Vis spectroscopy, krypton and nitrogen adsorption-desorption, profilometry and SEM. The photocatalytic activity has been assessed by monitoring the degradation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) under UV light and UV-Visible light over time. The performances of the catalysts have been evaluated using the values of the reaction rate coefficient estimated through the adjustment of the first order kinetic model taking in account the variation of the volume inside the reactor due to sampling. The results highlight that the performances of the catalysts were better that the performances of the commercial photocatalytic coating (Saint Gobain Glass Bioclean®) which constitutes a significant step forwards for the production of photocatalytic coating. Moreover, the results highlight that the organic additive induces an alteration of the surface roughness and hence, a modification of the active surface of the films. In the case of the In Situ synthesis an increase of the active surface is associated to a 100% improvement of the photocatalytic activity. On the opposite, for the Ex Situ synthesis, a decrease of the active surface is associated to a 50% decrease of the photocatalytic activity due to the presence of the additive.
Details
- Title
- How to modify the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 thin films through their roughness by using additives. A relation between kinetics, morphology and synthesis
- Authors
- Charline M Malengreaux (Author) - Universite de Liege, BelgiumGeraldine M L Leonard (Author) - Universite de Liege, BelgiumS L Pirard (Author) - Universite de Liege, BelgiumIolanda Cimieri (Author) - Ghent University, BelgiumStephanie D Lambert (Author) - Universite de Liege, BelgiumJohn R Bartlett (Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastBenoit Beinrichs (Author) - Universite de Liege, Belgium
- Publication details
- Chemical Engineering Journal, Vol.243, pp.537-548
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Date published
- 2014
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cej.2013.11.031
- ISSN
- 1385-8947
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2014. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450104002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
124 File views/ downloads
1520 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Engineering, Chemical
- Engineering, Environmental