Book Synopsis Sol-Gel Synthesis and Characterisation of Novel Metal Oxide Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Applications by :
Download or read book Sol-Gel Synthesis and Characterisation of Novel Metal Oxide Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Applications written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis presents a study of the effect of chemical modifiers and dopants on both the anatase to rutile transformation and also the photocatalytic efficiency of semiconductor nanomaterials. The main focus of the work is based on the crystallisation and phase transformation of the widely investigated semiconductor metal oxide, titanium dioxide (TiO2) Of the three polymorphs associated with titanium dioxide, anatase is widely regarded as the most effective photocatalyst. Typically anatase will transform to rutile in the temperature range 600 - 700 °C however, modification of a titanium precursor with a chelating agent can result in extended transformation temperature. The effect of employing various concentrations of formic acid and water on phase transition is systematically studied by XRD, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy (Chapter 3). Retention of anatase (41%) at increased temperatures (800 °C) and 10% at 900 °C is achieved at optimum conditions. On comparison, a control sample prepared without modification with formic acid show rutile formation at 600 °C. FTIR and Raman studies indicate that a bridging titanium-formate structure is formed upon addition of titanium isopropoxide to formic acid. It is proposed that under different reaction conditions, a syn-syn or synanti bridging structure is favoured. It is concluded that the syn-anti bridging structure hinders cross linking of the metal oxide oligomer network, resulting in a weakened structure, facilitating low temperature rutile formation when compared with the syn-syn binding mode which forms a more ordered network, stabilising anatase at increased temperatures. Using the optimum formic acid, titanium isopropoxide molar ratios (TTIP:FA:H2O, 1:4:4) obtained in chapter 3, silver (1, 3 and 5 mol %) was added to the system and the effects are reported (chapter 4). Through XRD it is shown that silver lowers the anatase to rutile transformation temperature. Samples calcined at 700 °C show that 5 mol % Ag-TiO2 contains b.