| Visible Light-Driven Aerogel Cu-TiO2/SiO2 Photocatalyst for Degradation of Ethyl benzene |
| Paper ID : 1216-UFGNSM-FULL |
| Authors: |
|
Neda Shirzad Taghanaki1, narjes keramati *2, mohsen mehdipour ghazi3 1National University of Semnan, semnan, Iran 2Faculty of Nanotechnology, Semnan University, 35131-19111, Semnan, Iran 3Faculty of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, Semnan University, 35131-19111, Semnan, Iran |
| Abstract: |
| Titanium dioxide, one of the most important and most frequently used photocatalysts for decomposition of organic pollutants, displays photoactivity only under UV light. Synthesis of TiO2 with high BET surface area, large porosity and absorption ability in the UV-visible light region by an explicit synthetic method from less expensive precursor can makes it an ideal candidate in photocatalytic applications. In this work, modified TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite aerogel photocatalysts containing different atomic concentrations of Cu dopant (1, 3, 5 at.%) were synthesized by sol-gel method at ambient pressure drying to obtain enhanced optical absorption in the visible region as well as high specific surface area. Sodium silicate and trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) were used as a less expensive silica source and as a silylating agent to yield aerogel powders at ambient pressure drying, respectively. The photocatalytic performance was evaluated by degradation of ethylbenzene in the aqueous phase under visible light irradiation. Characterization of structural and optical properties of synthesized Cu-doped TiO2/SiO2 photocatalyst was carried out by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and Bruner-Emmet-Teller (BET) in order to elucidate the effects of Cu-to-Ti precursor molar ratio and surface area on the resulting photocatalytic activity. Optimal visible-light activity of Cu-doped TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite aerogel was obtained at Cu-to-Ti precursor molar ratio of 3 at%. |
| Keywords: |
| visible-light sensitive; Titanium dioxide; Ethyl benzene; Aerogel |
| Status : Paper Accepted (Poster Presentation) |
