Authors: M L OJEDA C VELASQUEZ V RENTERIA A CAMPERO M A GARCÍASÁNCHEZ F ROJAS
Publish Date: 2015/02/17
Volume: 38, Issue: 1, Pages: 29-40
Abstract
This study discusses about the photochemical topological and textural properties of yttriumdoped titanium dioxide TiO2 photocatalysts The mesoporous yttriumdoped TiO2 substrates prepared in this research work operate efficiently via lowcost commercial 13W UV lamps A quantity of 2 wt yttrium deposition on TiO2 accelerates methyl orange UV decolourization kinetics When Y content increases to 8 wt besides anatase rutile is formed from 600°C The Y2Ti2O7 photoinactive compound emerges at 800°C The P123 surfactant mesopore templating treatment of TiO2 xerogels when concurrent with the sol–gel Ydoping of Ti alkoxides features the following two correlated phenomena i The surface area increases while the access to the inner porosity of the substrate becomes much easier so that a larger portion of the surface is made accessible to the dye molecules as well as to the yttrium dopant ii the inclusion of tubular instead of inkbottle pores facilitates the transport of organic species in and out of the pore structure The most active mesoporous substrate resulted to be made of 2 wt Y contrastingly when Y=8 wt photoinactivity arose because of Y2Ti2O7 formation The involvement of P123 was not the sole factor influencing the efficiency of TiO2 mesoporous photocatalysts There were additional key factors such as the surging of coordination and nucleophilic species during the dye photodegradation process which were also induced by the presence of Y species on the surface of these substratesWe thank the SEPPROMEP Network ‘Diseño Nanoscópico y Textural de Materiales Avanzados’ Project ‘Síntesis y Fisicoquímica de Materiales Mesoporosos’ UAMI CA31 Fisicoquímica de Superficies UdGCA583 Ciencia de Nanomateriales y Materia Condensada We also thank Patricia Castillo for her skilled technical assistance during the SEM–EDS experiments
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