Microwave Plasma Assisted Sol‐Gel Synthesis of TiO2 Photocatalyst for DC Plasma Jet Driven Degradation of Methylene Blue. Issue 13 (7th April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ayyaz, Muhammad; Shukrullah, Shazia; Naz, Muhammad Y.; AbdEl‐Salam, Nasser M.; Ibrahim, Khalid A.; Mohamed, Hassan F.
• Is Part Of: ChemistrySelect. Volume 6:Issue 13(2021)
• Page Start: 3229
• Page End: 3239
• Publication Date: 2021-04-07
• Subjects: Photocatalysis -- Plasma chemistry -- Nanoparticles -- Plasma jet -- dye degradation; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540.5
• DOI: 10.1002/slct.202100199
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2365-6549

Abstract

Abstract: A new microwave plasma assisted sol‐gel (MPAS) technique was adopted to produce Titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) photocatalyst by using pure and mixed stabilizers. The crystalline phases, composition, bandgap energy and surface morphology of TiO2 were studied through SEM, XRD, FT‐IR, UV‐Visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The average particle size of MPAS synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles remained smaller than the simple sol‐gel method while bandgap energy increased by 40 %. The rutile content and crystallinity of nanoparticles were also found higher in MPAS synthesized TiO2 than the simple sol‐gel method. The type of stabilizer only effected the particle size but not the phase transformations of TiO2 nanoparticles. TiO2 photocatalyst with band gap of 3.06 eV was used to degrade methylene blue dye in water under the exposure of open atmosphere argon plasma jet. UV radiation intensity of the plasma jet at a distance of 2 cm was 576 μW/cm 2, which reduced to 149 μW/cm 2 at 10 cm. The plasma jet produced some highly reactive species and UV radiations. The reactive species reacted with dye molecules while UV radiations promoted the activity of TiO2 . The dye degradation efficiency of the process, under the combined effect of reactive species and TiO2 activity, reached to 95 % after 30 min of plasma exposure time. Abstract : A microwave plasma assisted sol‐gel (MPAS) technique was adopted to produce Titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) photocatalyst. The average particle size of MPAS synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles remained smaller than the simple sol‐gel method while bandgap energy increased by 40 %. This photocatalyst was used to degrade methylene blue dye in water under argon plasma jet exposure. The plasma reactive species reacted with dye molecules while UV radiations promoted the activity of TiO2 . The plasma assisted dye degradation reached to 95 % after 30 min of plasma exposure time.