Synthesis and characterization of TiO2 using sol-gel method deposited on porous cordierite for water treatment application

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) which are the most utilized semiconductors in photocatalytic activity was prepared by sol-gel synthesis method and further dip-coating on macroporous cordierite. The excellent immobilization gave advantages of prevention of separating final particle-fluid, ease of handling and prolong photocatalyst service life. Thermal analysis of TiO2 has been analyzed by DTA-DTG. Next, TiO2 has been deposited on macroporous cordierite by using different dipping cycles which is 1, 3, 5 and 7 cycles with heat treatment at optimum temperature. TiO2 and TiO2/Cordierite have been calcined at different calcination temperature which is 400 °C, 500 °C, 600 °C and 700 °C. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by using XRD, SEM and UV-Vis Spectrometer. It was found that an interaction happens between TiO2 and cordierite from XRD results. Moreover, the calcination temperature of 700°C contains a higher concentration of anatase TiO2 while having the mixed phase anatase-rutile with lower band gap compared to the others. Photocatalytic efficiency of coated cordierite was identified through photodegradation of 10ppm of Methyl Orange (MO) under irradiation of UV light. Among all the TiO2 coated cordierites, the parameter with 5 dipping cycles of TiO2 sol shown the best photocatalytic activity with removal efficiency 58.1213% while absent of dropped-off during water treatment process. Furthermore, it was able to perform adsorption process under the dark condition with removal efficiency of 4.6015%. According to bulk density results, it has the higher amount of TiO2 while the morphology of deposited cordierite was revealed by SEM with the small fraction of crack on the surface.