(81g) Synthesis of Titanium Dioxide Photocatalyst with Tunable Nanoporosity Using of Supercritical Fluids

Photocatalyst has been widely used in environmental purification and remediation. Among current photocatalysts, titanium dioxide based photocatalyst has been becoming more popular because of its outstanding properties. With a wide band gap, titanium dioxide is able to be excited with from visible light through UV light and generate highly oxidizing electron-hole pairs. This paper focuses on use supercritical fluids technology combined with sol-gel method to synthesize a novel and effective TiO2 based photocatalytic system which can be excited by visible light, UV light and sunlight for degradation and purification of some harmful and toxic contaminants. Surfactant templating, supercritical extraction and drying, and supercritical fluid aided functionalization of the surface enable synthesis of porous matrices with tunable nanoporosity and pore sites decorated with nanoparticles. Titanium based catalysts that are characterized with SEM, TEM, FTIR, UV with diffuse reflectance, and AFM.