STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF ADDITION OF ACIDS ON PARTICLE SIZE AND SURFACE AREA OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE PHOTOCATALYST

摘要

An investigation was carried out on the synthesis of titanium dioxide nano powders via the sol gel method, examining the influence of addition of different acids during preparation of the catalyst. The resulting powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction and surface area. The X-ray diffraction revealed that there was formation of a pure crystalline phase, consisting only of anatase for catalyst prepared by the addition of glacial acetic acid. The catalyst prepared using glacial acetic acid yielded a particle size of 7.1 nm and specific surface area of 175.72 m~2gm~(-1). The effect of the particle size on the degradation of Acid Red 88, 3, 4-Dichloroaniline and Nitrobenzene was studied and the studies revealed the importance of particle size in degradation effects.