Synthesis of Nanostructured TiO2 Microparticles with High Surface Area

Hydrothermal reactions represent a simple and efficient method for the preparation of nanostructured TiO2 particles that could be of interest as photocatalysts or catalytic supports. Although the particle size is in the range of 2–5 µm, the nanostructures composing the particles ensure a large specific surface area with values above 100 m2/g. The effects of the different synthesis parameters on the morphology, photocatalytic activity, and stability of the prepared material were studied. The surface morphology of the prepared TiO2 powders was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). To further characterize the samples, the specific surface area for different morphologies was measured and the photocatalytic activity of the prepared powders was tested by degrading model pollutants under UV irradiation. The results show that the initial morphology had little effect on the photocatalytic properties. On the other hand, the final calcination temperature significantly increased the degradation rates, making it comparable to that of P25 TiO2 (particle size 20–30 nm).

Effects of Particle Properties on Visualizing Flows in a Two- Stage Electrostatic Precipitator Using Particle Image Velocimetry

The amount of particulate matter (PM) in the environment has been confirmed to be health risks on human bodies[1, 2], and therefore removing suspended particles has become the research goal of many studies. Electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is one of the high-efficiency particle collection technologies[3-7]. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) has been an effective tool for visualizing the flow patterns in experimental fluid mechanics, and many studies adopted this technique to study flows in ESP[8-10]. However, particles charged by the electric field can cause deviation in measurement results since it does not follow the ionized air flow which can be charged differently from the tracer particles. In this study, the observation of the effects of different particle properties on flow field in a two-stage ESP is the objectives of this study. A two-stage ESP was built and four different seeding particles, aluminum oxide (Al2O3) particle, oil droplet particle, sodium chloride (NaCl) particle, and titanium dioxide (TiO2) particle, are tested in the current study. In this study, the streamwise velocity of the flows ranges from 2.36 m/s to 4.18 m/s, the voltage of the corona electrode varies from 8 kV to 12 kV with a positive polarity, and the voltage of the collector electrode is fixed at 16 kV. To investigate the 3-D flow patterns inside the channel, data at different planes were taken for comparison. The results show that by increasing charge voltage from 8 kV to 12 kV with a streamwise flow velocity the 2.36 m/s, the y-component velocity for Al2O3 particle, oil droplet particle, NaCl particle and TiO2 particle increased by 50.6%, 76.0%, 33.5% and 51.9%, respectively. Moreover, for the case of the 4.18 m/s primary flow, the y-component velocity for Al2O3 particle, oil droplet particle, NaCl particle and TiO2 particle increase by 52.7%, 59.2%, 59.4% and 65.9% after the voltages increase from 8 kV to 12 kV. PIV results for oil droplet particle shows slower y-component velocities, which can be due to the lower Archimedes number of 3.12E-06 and the mobility number that is larger than 3. On the contrary, in most of results from TiO2 particles show high y-component velocity, which is due to the highest Archimedes number of 1.15E-03 of the seeding particles tested in this study. This result shows that the particle is less affected by buoyancy effect. The PIV results of the middle plane also shows that the ycomponent of velocity from -2.6 m/s to -0.5 m/s, in contrast to -1.0 m/s to 1.0 m/s from the near wall observation plane. These results are consistent to simulation results of the electric field distribution, whichshows unequal electric field strengths between the middle and near wall regions of the test section. Only half of the cage shape distribution of the electric field can be observed, and primary flow influences the ionic wind to move to the downstream area. Based on the results, the oil droplet and TiO2 particles are more suitable for the role of tracer particles compared to aluminum oxide and sodium chloride particles.

Population Balance Application in TiO2 Particle Deagglomeration Process Modeling

The deagglomeration of titanium-dioxide powder in water suspension performed in a stirring tank was investigated. Owing to the widespread applications of the deagglomeration process and titanium dioxide powder, new, more efficient devices and methods of predicting the process result are highly needed. A brief literature review of the application process, the device used, and process mechanism is presented herein. In the experiments, deagglomeration of the titanium dioxide suspension was performed. The change in particle size distribution in time was investigated for different impeller geometries and rotational speeds. The modification of impeller geometry allowed the improvement of the process of solid particle breakage. In the modelling part, numerical simulations of the chosen impeller geometries were performed using computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) methods whereby the flow field, hydrodynamic stresses, and other useful parameters were calculated. Finally, based on the simulation results, the population-balance with a mechanistic model of suspension flow was developed. Model predictions of the change in particle size showed good agreement with the experimental data. Using the presented method in the process design allowed the prediction of the product size and the comparison of the efficiency of different impeller geometries.

Selective Suppression of {112} Anatase Facet by Fluorination for Enhanced TiO2 Particle Size and Phase Stability at Elevated Temperatures

Generally, anatase is the most desirable TiO2 polymorphic phase for photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications due to its higher photoconductivity and lower recombination rates compared to rutile phase. However, in applications...

Agricultural Waste As Silica Source In Tio2/Sio2 Synthesis For Photocatalytic Degradation Of Dye Compounds

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of semiconductor material which has been used as photocatalyst that has very good potency to oxidize some hazardous organic compounds like dye waste, medical and pharmacological waste, and etc. Although TiO2 has high oxidation capacity for photocatalytic degradation, it has some deficiencies which can limit its application as photocatalyst. Those deficiencies are TiO2 is easily agglomerated, its charge carrier is conveniently formed as recombination, and it has low surface area. This article provides a review of a composite which consists of TiO2 as the dispersed phase and SiO2 as the matrix, this composite has better photacatalytic performance than TiO2 itself. SiO2 can increase the surface area of TiO2, prevent the agglomeration of TiO2 particle, and avoid the recombination of TiO2’s charge carrier. Consequently, it can improve the ability of TiO2 to do photocatalytic degradation. Agricultural wastes that consist of high silica content is potentially used as the resource of SiO2 in this composite and biosilica that is produced from natural waste has biocompatible and biodegradable properties. This article also provides it’s application for various dye photocatalytic degradation.

Preparation of TiO2 Nanoparticle Aggregates and Capsules by the ‘Two-Emulsion Method’

TiO2-based materials are of great practical interest in several technological areas. Both the size and the morphology of the TiO2 particles are of critical importance for their applications. The current study explores the effect of several factors on the outcome of the TiO2 particle synthesis via the so-called ‘two-emulsion method’. In this technique, two water-in-oil emulsions—each of them containing different reactant in the dispersed water drops—are mixed under well controlled conditions. Upon such mixing, partial coalescence of the water drops from the two emulsions leads to mixing of the drop content, with chemical reaction occurring within the drops, and to synthesis of Ti(OH)4 particles. Afterwards, the latter are transformed by emulsion heating into TiO2 particles and aggregates of predominantly anatase structure. Our results show that—depending on the precursor and surfactant concentrations, oil viscosity, emulsification time, and mixing speed—the obtained nanoparticles could aggregate either on the drop surface, forming capsules with a very smooth surface, or inside the water droplets, thus leading to hierarchically structured aggregates of micrometer size. The spherical smooth capsules are constructed of very small monodisperse TiO2 nanoparticles with size below 5 nm. The hierarchical bulk aggregates, on the other hand, are formed from bigger primary particles of sub-micrometer size. The obtained results show that one can obtain various TiO2 structures by controlling the conditions during the emulsion preparation and mixing