Visible light-driven mesoporous Au–TiO2/SiO2 photocatalysts for advanced oxidation process. Issue 9 (July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Malik, Ritu; Chaudhary, Vandna; Tomer, Vijay K.; Rana, Pawan S.; Nehra, S.P.; Duhan, Surender
• Is Part Of: Ceramics international. Volume 42:Issue 9(2016)
• Page Start: 10892
• Page End: 10901
• Publication Date: 2016-07
• Subjects: Photocatalyst -- Rose Bengal -- Au nanoparticles -- Mesoporous; Ceramics -- Periodicals; Céramique industrielle -- Périodiques; Ceramics; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 666
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.03.222
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0272-8842

Abstract

Abstract: Au–TiO2 /SiO2 heterogeneous catalysts with different Au contents were successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal process and their photocatalytic activity towards reduction of Rose Bengal (RB), Methyl Blue (MB), Rhodamine B (RhB) and Congo Red (CR) was investigated in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH4 ) for advanced oxidation process (AOP). The results reveal that 3 wt% Au loaded in TiO2 /SiO2 can significantly degrade high RB concentration dye (>95%, 0.3 g/L, 12 pH) within 20 min of irradiation time. All catalysis reaction followed the pseudo-first order rate reaction with high correlation coefficient. The effect of loading of Au nanoparticles (1–5 wt%) along with variation in dye concentration (100–500 ppm), pH of solution (2–12), catalysts dosage (0.1–0.5 g/L), and reaction temperature (30–80 °C) were also studied. The present works shows the superior performance of Au–TiO2 /SiO2 heterogeneous catalysts to be related to the high dispersion of Au nanoparticles in the TiO2 /SiO2 and to the catalytic effect between gold and TiO2 . Graphical abstract: A schematic illustrating the synthesis of Au–TiO2 /SiO2 nanocomposite and the mechanism of photodegradation under sunlight irradiation.