Photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 nanotube layers coated with Ag and Pt

Abstract

Thin films of anatase TiO₂ nanotube arrays (TiO₂ NTs) were prepared in this study. Pt and Ag were coated on the TiO₂ NTs films, which intend to increase the photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) irradiation. The phase and structure of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Photocatalytic activity was tested by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and showed that UV-vis light absorption of the films was remarkably improved by coated Ag and Pt by 72% and 183% respectively. The photocatalytic activities of the films towards degraded methyl orange and HCHO were compared and were all found to follow the sequence Pt/TiO₂ NTs>Ag/TiO₂ NTs>TiO₂ NTs. It was also found that the kinetics of HCHO photocatalytic degradation by the films fits the first order reaction model better and has higher efficiency than that of the methyl orange photocatalytic degradation by the same films.

Keywords

TiO2 NTs Pt and Ag deposits Photocatalytic activity Reaction constant

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ollis

D. F.

and Turchi

C. S.

: Environ. Frog., 1990, 9, 229–234.

Hoffmann

M. R.

, Martin

S. T.

, Choi

and Bahnemann

D. W.

: Chem. Rev., 1995, 95, 69–96.

Mills

and Hunte

S. L.

: J. Photochem. Photobiol. A, 1997, 108A, 1–35.

Yuan

Z. F.

, Li

, Zhang

J. L.

, Xu

and Ke

J. J.

: J. Sol-Gel Sci Technol, 2006, 39, 249–253.

Rothenberger

, Moser

, Gratzel

, Serpone

and Sharma

D. K.

: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1985, 107, 8054–8059.

Serpone

, Lawless

, Disdier

and Herrmann

J. M.

: Langmuir, 1994, 10, 643–652.

Moser

and Gratzel

: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1984, 106, 6557–6564.

Asahi

, Morikawa

, Ohwaki

, Aoki

and Taga

: Science, 2001, 293, 269–271.

Ghicov

, Macak

J. M.

, Tsuchiya

, Kunze

, Haeublein

, Frey

and Schmuki

: Nano Lett., 2006, 6, 1080–1082.

10.

Sakthivel

and Kisch

: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed:, 2003, 42, 4908–4911.

11.

Choi

, Termin

and Hoffmann

M. R.

: J. Phys. Chem., 1994, 98, 13669–13679.

12.

Sobana

, Muruganadham

and Swaminathan

: J. Mol. Gated A, 2006, 258A, 124–132.

13.

Seery

M. K.

, George

, Floris

and Pillai

S. C.

: J. Photochem. Photobiol A, 2007, 189A, 258–273.

14.

Sclafani

and Herrmann

J. M.

: J. Photochem. Photobiol A, 1998, 113A, 181–188.

15.

Arabatzis

I. M.

, Stergiopoulos

, Bernard

M. C.

, Labou

, Neophytides

S. G.

and Falaras

: Appl. Catal. B, 2003, 42B, 187–201.

16.

They

, Tomova

, Bilyarska

, Eliyas

and Petrov

: Appl Gated B, 2006, 63B, 266–271.

17.

Zwilling

, Aucouturier

, Darque-Ceretti

: Electrochim. Acta, 1999, 45, 921–929.

18.

Hufschmidt

, Bahnemann

, Testa

J. J.

, Emilio

C. A.

and Litter

M. I.

: J. Photochem. Photobiol A, 2002, 148A, 223–231.

19.

Zwilling

, Ceretti

E. D.

, Forveille

A. B.

, David

, Perrin

M. Y.

and Aucouturier

: Surf Interface Anal, 1999, 27, 629–637.

20.

Moon

, Kathalingam

and Mahalingam

: J. Mater. Set Mater. Electron., 2007, 18, 1013–1019.

21.

Mahalingam

, Raja

and Thanikaikarasan

: Mater. Charact., 2007, 58, 800–804.

22.

J. G.

, Xiong

J. F.

, Cheng

and Liu

S. W.

: Appl. Gated B, 2002, 60B, 211–221.

23.

Kontos

A. I.

, Arabatzis

I. M.

, Tsoukleris

D. S.

, Kontos

A. G.

, Bernard

M. C.

, Petrakis

D. E.

and Falaras

: Catal. Today, 2005, 101, 275–281.

24.

Sakkas

V. A.

, Abrabatzis

I. M.

, Konstantinou

I. K.

, Dimou

A. D.

, Albanis

T. A.

and Falaras

: Appl. Catal. B, 2004, 49B, 195–205.