AN INVESTIGATION OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE NANOPARTICLES FOR PHOTOCATALYTIC PROPERTIES

Titanium oxide (TiO2) is one of the materials most extensively investigated for its photocatalytic properties, primarily because of its ability to degrade a wide variety of organic pollutants. Photocatalytic degradation of Congo-red on a (~300 nm) thin layer of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles is investigated under Mercury light-source. The thin layer was prepared by spin coating techniques using commercially available TiO2 nanoparticles of average size 10 – 15 nm. The samples are characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Estimated rate constant was found to be 3.1 x 10-2 min-1. Further, the degradation properties of thin layer samples were compared with that obtained with as-received TiO2 nanoparticles under similar conditions. Financial support from UWG SEEP and SRAP programs are acknowledged.