In the present study, TiO 2 quantum dots (QDs) were effectively synthesized by the solgel method and it was characterized by several techniques. The structure of the TiO 2 QDs, before and after calcination, was analyzed by the powder X-ray diffraction technique. The XRD results indicate that after calcination, TiO 2 QDs have pure anatase phase with tetragonal structure without any other phases and impurities. The morphology and size of the TiO 2 QDs were determined from FE-SEM and TEM analysis. The optical band gap of TiO 2 QDs was estimated using KubelkaMunk function from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity and recycling ability of the TiO 2 QDs have been investigated. The TiO 2 QDs were used to degrade the model dyes such as methyl orange and methylene blue under UV light irradiation and their results have been discussed. A mechanism is proposed and discussed accordingly in detail. ª 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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