A Facile Urea-Assisted Thermal Decomposition Process of TiO2 Nanoparticles and Their Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

In the present work, we have reported a facile and large-scale synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) through urea-assisted thermal decomposition of titanium oxysulphate. We have successfully synthesized TiO2 NPs by using this effective route with different weight ratios of titanium oxysulphate: urea. The structures and properties of TiO2 NPs were confirmed by scanning electron microscope) (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultra violet–visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), and photoluminescence (Pl) techniques. XRD demonstrated that TiO2 NPs holds of anatase crystal phase with crystallizing size 14–19 nm even after heating at 600 °C. TGA, SEM, and TEM images reveal urea’s role, which controls the size, morphology, and aggregation of TiO2 NPs during the thermal decomposition. These TiO2 NPs were employed for photodegradation of Methyl Orange (MO) in the presence of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. An interesting find was that the TiO2 NPs exhibited better photocatalytic activity and excellent recycling stability over several photodegradation cycles. Furthermore, the present method has a great perspective to be used as an efficient method for large-scale synthesis of TiO2 NPs.

Environmentally Benign Organic Dye Conversion under UV Light through TiO2-ZnO Nanocomposite

“…Figure 1 exhibits the XRD pattern of TU, ZU, TZU95, TZU90, TZU85, TZU80, TZU75 and TZU70. As shown in Figure 1, the characteristic peaks of TU, observed at 2θ = 25.3 • , 37.8 • , 48.0 • , 53.9 • , 55.1 • , 62.7 • , 68.9 • , 70.3 • and 75.1 • , correspond to the reflection planes of (101), ( 004), ( 200), ( 105), ( 211), ( 204), ( 116), ( 220) and (215), respectively, which indicates the formation of TiO 2 in the anatase phase and clearly matches with the reported pattern (JCPDS 21-1272) [25]. For the ZU sample shown in Figure 1, the characteristic peaks of ZnO appear at 31.63 • , 34.29 • , 36.32 • , 47.54 • , 56.72 • , 62.83 • and 67.93 • and can be indexed to the planes of (100), (002), (101), (102), (110), ( 103) and (112), which indicates the existence of the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO (JCPDS 36-1451) [26].…”

“…TiO 2 and ZnO nanostructures were separately prepared using a urea-assisted thermal decomposition method in a similar manner to our previous report [25]. In the typical synthesis of the TiO 2 -ZnO nanocomposite, grinding of titanium oxysulphate, zinc acetate and urea was carried out for 15 min using a mortar and pestle.…”

Mesoporous Ti4O7 Nanosheets with High Polar Surface Area for Catalyzing Separator to Reduce the Shuttle Effect of Soluble Polysulfides in Lithium‐sulfur Batteries

“…A sharp weight loss from 20 to 400 °C can be ascribed to removal of physically adsorbed water and the intercalated water molecules from the powder samples. [60,61] The samples can be represented as TiO 2 •aH 2 O•bSO 3 , [62] because, using Ti(SO 4 ) 2 as reactant, the assynthesized TiO 2 nanoparticles can inevitably adsorb sulfate groups. When SO 4 2groups are present in the compounds, a weight loss is exhibited between 400 °C and 600 °C, that can be attributed to the dissociation of SO 3 .…”

“…The unmodified TiO 2 nanoparticles by SiO 2 shows the minimum weight loss started from above 20 °C and ended around 600 °C, as analyzed by TGA curves (Figure S3). A sharp weight loss from 20 to 400 °C can be ascribed to removal of physically adsorbed water and the intercalated water molecules from the powder samples [60,61] . The samples can be represented as TiO 2 ⋅aH 2 O⋅bSO 3 , [62] because, using Ti(SO 4 ) 2 as reactant, the as‐synthesized TiO 2 nanoparticles can inevitably adsorb sulfate groups.…”

Bubble-propelled micromotors for ammonia generation

“…Many studies have been carried out in the field of environmental remediation for the removal of organic pollutants from contaminated water, including pharmaceutical, agriculture, and dye waste sources. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Among these emerging contaminants, urea has been gaining prominence because it is a common pollutant from residential activities, being the main component of urine, and from different industrial processes. Therefore, the accumulation of urea in the wastewater of big cities is becoming a great problem because its biodegradation is not enough to avoid related environmental risks, like eutrophication in coastal waters.…”