Correlation of Surface Area with Photocatalytic Activity of TiO₂

New carbon/ZnO/Li2O nanocomposites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

“…This difference can be explained by the synthesis procedure which led probably to a strong agglomeration 52–54 of the ZnO and Li 2 O structures. Furthermore, there is no correlation between BET surface area and the photocatalytic activity since our samples which suggests that the most important parameter is the presence of the doping agent and electron-hole mobility modification 55 . The decrease of specific surface area while the photocatalytic activity increases in the presence of Li atoms can be also attributed to a better adsorption of the organic dye on the surface of the photocatalysts and the decrease in the recombination rate, since more defects are created in the structure of the semiconductor material (ZnO) 56 at higher concentrations of doping agent.…”

Microwave-Assisted Vacuum Synthesis of TiO2 Nanocrystalline Powders in One-Pot, One-Step Procedure

“…The influence of this HCl presence on photocatalysis is still unclear in the literature: There are only a low number of papers discussing its effect on photocatalysis, and some of them report it is detrimental [ 48 , 49 ], while others report it is beneficial [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. HCl might be partly responsible for the low nanoparticle size [ 54 , 55 , 56 ], and there might be a correlation between HCl and surface properties that deeply influence photocatalysis [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. A deep understanding of the role of the trapped HCl on the photocatalytic properties of this material is out of the scope of this work, but this phenomenon might deserve more attention in the future since, in our case, it does not seem to be detrimental for photocatalysis.…”

Characterization of ZnO and TiO2 Nanopowders and their Application for Photocatalytic Water Treatment

“…In our earlier works, a comparative study has been performed on different commercial catalysts of TiO 2 having different surface areas for the photodegradation of synthetic dyes [7,30], the results have shown that TiO 2 particles size and surface area are not the only factors influencing their photocatalytic activity, but it is rather surface properties such as surface acidity and the crystalline phase. Vorontsov et al [31] have also concluded, in their study on the photocatalytic activity of several synthesized samples of TiO 2 , that TiO 2 surface area and particle size are only secondary factors influencing photocatalytic activity, while other surface properties such as acidity, surface structure, and also extent of surface hydroxylation should play a major role in obtaining high performance of the photocatalytic process. In the case of ZnO, ZnO nanostructures of different morphologies were fabricated by Morales et al [32], and compared for dyes photocatalytic degradation.…”