PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF MESOPOROUS TiO2 (ANATAS) IN THE REACTION OF HYDROGEN RELEASE FROM AQUEOUS-ETHANOLIC MIXTURE

Abstract

Samples of mesoporous nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (anatase with a crystallite size of about 10 nm) were obtained by a modified sol-gel method in the presence of a template of dibenzo-18-crown-6 and small additives of surfactant (dodecylmethylethylammonium bromide) or ions of lanthanum (III) in butyl alcohol in combination with hydrothermal treatment at 175 °C for 24 hours followed by calcination in air at 500 °C for 4 hours. The photocatalytic activity of the obtained TiO2 samples was investigated in a model reaction of the photocatalytic release of H2 from an aqueous-ethanol mixture. It was found that in all cases the use of hydrothermal treatment significantly increases the photoactivity of the obtained sample, which in some cases is more than 3-4 times higher than the corresponding characteristic for commercial photocatalyst Evonik P25. The key effect of hydrothermal treatment on the increase of photoactivity of the samples is probably the consequence of a drastic increase in the treated samples of pore volume and diameter, as well as a decrease in the size of anatase crystallites. These changes (along with a significant increase in the specific surface area) are greater for samples obtained in the presence of La3+ ions. It is shown that samples of TiO2 microspheres obtained at the same concentrations of reagents in the reaction mixture show slightly higher photocatalytic activity than the corresponding lanthanum-stabilized samples of mesoporous TiO2 powders (micrometer-scale particles are not formed in the presence of lanthanum (III) ions). However, with an increasing concentration of reagents in the reaction mixture, the photocatalytic activity has the sample containing lanthanum. Probably, this can be explained by the high textural characteristics of the TiO2 sample in combination with the peculiarities of its morphology - the formation of secondary nanoparticles of agglomerated formations and the influence of La3+ ions. It is worth noting that the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 samples prepared in the presence of La3+ ions reduces as their specific surface area decreases.