Zinc titanium glycolate acetate hydrate and its transformation to zinc titanate microrods: synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic properties. Issue 108 (19th October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pan, Guo-Hui; Hayakawa, Tomokatsu; Nogami, Masayuki; Hao, Zhendong; Zhang, Xia; Qu, Xuesong; Zhang, Jiahua
• Is Part Of: RSC advances. Volume 5:Issue 108(2015)
• Page Start: 88590
• Page End: 88601
• Publication Date: 2015-10-19
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540.5
• DOI: 10.1039/c5ra18292a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2046-2069

Abstract

Abstract : Heterobimetallic complex microrods of zinc titanium glycolate acetate hydrate tentatively formulated as Zn2 Ti3 (OCH2 CH2 O)4 (OCH2 CH2 OH)5 (CH3 COO)3 ·2HOCH2 CH2 OH·H2 O were synthesize by homogeneous precipitation. Abstract : A heterobimetallic complex, zinc titanium glycolate acetate hydrate (Zn2 Ti3 –GAH), tentatively formulated as Zn2 Ti3 (OCH2 CH2 O)4 (OCH2 CH2 OH)5 (CH3 COO)3 ·2HOCH2 CH2 OH·H2 O, was synthesized by a room-temperature homogeneous precipitation in ethylene glycol solution. Its chemical composition, crystal structure, morphology, growth mechanism and thermal behaviors were characterized in detail. The precipitated Zn2 Ti3 –GAH was of a highly crystalline monoclinic phase and porous microrod morphology. As the single source precursor (SSP), Zn2 Ti3 –GAH was transformed into different phases of zinc titanate via thermal decomposition. With the remaining shape of the microrods, cubic phases of Zn2 Ti3 O8 and rutile TiO2 (r-TiO2 ) supported hexagonal phases of ZnTiO3 (h-ZnTiO3 ) were obtained by calcination at 500 and 700 °C, respectively; while r-TiO2 supported Zn2 TiO4 were yielded in the form of dispersed particles or chains at higher temperature (950 °C). Benefiting from the SSP route and the confinement in the specific microrod domains of precursors, the heterostructures of r-TiO2 –ZnTiO3 and r-TiO2 –Zn2 TiO4 were formed during programmable calcination. The studies on photocatalysis by degrading methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation indicated that the as-transformed zinc titanate exhibited enhanced activity. In particular, r-TiO2 supported h-ZnTiO3 displayed the photodegradation reaction rate constant of 0.00163 s −1, which was comparable to that of commercially available Degussa P25 TiO2 . This probably related to the more effective charge separation in the r-TiO2 –ZnTiO3 heterostructure packed in the microrods.