A novel preparation of Ag@TiO₂tubes and their potent photocatalytic degradation efficiency

Abstract

Hollow TiO 2 nanotubes have been produced by combining electrospinning with a soaking process and controlled calcination method. Silver was successfully coated on the surface of the TiO 2 tubes through the immersion burning method. Structure and components of TiO 2 and Ag/TiO 2 tubes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).Morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalysis properties were verified by degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye. From the results, the Ag/TiO 2 hollow tubes could degrade methyl orange efficiently under UV light irradiation, showing excellent photocatalytic activity over pure TiO 2 . The synthesis mechanism of the Ag/TiO 2 tubes and the mechanism for silver-enhanced photocatalytic activity have been conjectured.

The facile preparation of Ag decorated TiO2/ZnO nanotubes and their potent photocatalytic degradation efficiency

“…The distance between the two peaks was 5.6 eV, which is identical to that of neat TiO 2 , indicating that Ti was in the form of Ti 4+ . 33 However, comparing to the Ti 2p of TiO 2 , the Ti 2p binding energy of ATZ was increased for the lower Fermi level than that of TiO 2 . 39 These phenomena are attributed to the formation of Ag-Ti-O-Zn, which causes a change in the electrons surrounding Ti and was in accordance with the formation of ZnTiO 3 suggested in the XRD spectrum.…”

“…All of these factors lead to the catalytic activity of the ATZ heterostructure being signicantly enhanced. 33…”

“…28 The most commonly used modication methods include the microemulsion hydrothermal process, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, template induced method and wet chemical method, which have been used to successfully synthesize the desired heterostructures. [33][34][35][36] To date, the synthesis methods used to prepare hollow nanotubes have included anodic oxidation to produce metal oxide nanotubes, hydrothermal treatment of ne TiO 2 particles with an alkaline solution and chemical or physical deposition on sacricial colloidal templates. 37,38 These methods are oen confronted with problems such as template removal, tedious operation procedures, and poor adhesion of nanotube to the underlying substrate.…”

Ag Nanoparticles Decorated TiO2 Thin Films with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

“…Recorded Ti 2p spectrum indicated two main peaks at 459.2 and 464.8 eV which correspond to Ti 2p 3/2 and Ti 2p 1/2 orbitals, respectively . The binding energy of 5.6 eV can be attributed to Ti 4+ (indicating TiO 2 ) in Figure a . The O 1s peak exhibited two chemical states (Figure b) which could be attributed to lattice oxygen surface oxygen and Ag oxide .…”

Effect of Ag loading position on the photocatalytic performance of TiO2 nanocolumn arrays

“…Many efforts have been devoted to solve these problems with the aim of improving the catalytic performance of TiO 2 , which include doping with nonmetal elements [8], dye sensitization [9], and combination with metal elements or other metal oxides [10]. Compared with the bulk material, one-dimensional (1D) nanostructured TiO 2 presents enhanced photocatalytic activity that depends on a variety of factors such as surface area, particle shape, crystalline structure, crystal size, and surface active sites [11,12]. In addition, TiO 2 combined with noble metal (e.g., Au, Ag, Pt), nanostructured to form a metal-oxide structure, has been shown to greatly improve the catalytic efficiency of the material [13].…”