Hydrothermal Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Anatase TiO<SUB>2</SUB> Nanofiber

Abstract

TiO2 nanofiber consisting of 15 +/- 5 nm anatase grains was synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of fibrous hydrogen titanate precursor at 180 degrees C for 20 h. The hydrogen titanate precursor was synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of commercial P25 TiO2 powder in 10 M NaOH at 200 degrees C for 20 h followed by soaking in 0.1 M HNO3 to perform ion exchange between the as-synthesized Na titanate and H. By controlling pH of the solution during hydrothermal treatment of the hydrogen titanate precursor, pure anatase TiO2 nanofiber was obtained. Its band-gap energy determined from the onset of diffused reflectance spectrum was 3.19 eV which is equal to that of anatase TiO2 powder. The TiO2 nanofiber showed higher photodecomposition efficiency than the Cotiox KA-100 TiO2 but lower than the P25 TiO2. Photodegradation is the predominant process for 'Reactive blue 171' removal.