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Synthesis of TiO₂ Nano Powder by the Sol-Gel Method and Its Use as a Photocatalyst

A. Karami

Inorganic Chemistry Research Group, Sharif Institute of Technology, 79, Ghasemi st., Sadeghi st., Azadi ave., P.O. Box 13445-686, Tehran, Iran

In this work the titanium dioxide powder was prepared by the optimized and simple Sol-Gel method and then characterized. The gelling pH was set to values of 3 (TiO₂-A), 7 (TiO₂-N) and 9 (TiO₂-B) to observe the effect on the properties of the material. In these three cases nanoparticulated materials were obtained with particle sizes between 10nm and 20nm. The larger surface areas were obtained at pH 3, which is several times larger than the others. Furthermore, with the gelling condition pH 3, it was possible to synthesize pure anatase phase titania. Some preliminary results on the test of the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized materials in the reduction of nitric oxide are presented. Based on these results the nanoparticle TiO2, which was prepared in acidic pH 3 with the pure anatase phase and the lowest particle size has the highest reactivity for the photocatalytic reduction of nitric oxide.

Keywords: Titanium dioxide, Sol-gel method, Photocatalyst, Nanoparticles