Hathaithip Ninsonti

Photocatalytic Degradation of Geosmin by Titanium Dioxide Powder Synthesized by the Hydrothermal Route

Titanium dioxide powder was synthesized by the hydrothermal route with the starting precursors as titanium isopropoxide, ammonium hydroxide and nitric acid. The final of pH value of mixed solution was 1 and treated in the hydrothermal PTFE vessel at 80-100 °C for 3h. The phase of titanium dioxide was characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The morphology of titanium dioxide was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The chemical composition of titanium dioxide was examined by energy dispersive X-ray spectrophotometer (EDXS). The photocatalytic degradation of geosmin by titanium dioxide was determined by gas chromatograph coupled with flame ionization detector (GC-FID).

Au-Loaded Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Synthesized by Modified Sol-Gel/Impregnation Methods and Their Application to Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Au-loaded TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by the modified sol-gel method together with the impregnation method. Anatase phase of TiO2 was obtained in all samples with an average particle size of 20 nm. For the enhancement of DSSCs, the dye-sensitized solar cells composed of the ITO/Au-loaded TiO2/N-719/electrolyte/Pt were fabricated. Au-loaded TiO2 films were deposited by using squeegee method. Finally, the fabricated cells were studied upon an irradiation of solar light to study the performance. The fabricated cell with up to 1.0 mol% Au-loaded TiO2 could enhance the performance by localized surface plasmon effect and scattering property.

Au-loaded TiO2 and Ag-loaded TiO2 synthesized by modified sol–gel/impregnation method as photocatalysts

In this work, Au-loaded TiO2 and Ag-loaded TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by modified sol–gel method together with impregnation method. The samples were characterized by their physicochemical properties using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in order to obtain the correlation between structure and photocatalytic properties. XRD results indicated unloaded TiO2, Au-loaded TiO2 and Ag-loaded TiO2 nanoparticles were all in the anatase phase with average crystallite size in the range of 10–13 nm. In addition, XPS analysis confirmed the presence of Au and Ag elements in Au-loaded TiO2 and Ag-loaded TiO2 nanoparticles, respectively. The photocatalytic activities of TiO2, Au-loaded TiO2 and Ag-loaded TiO2 nanoparticles were evaluated through the mineralization of formic acid under UV-light illumination. The results showed that Au-loading and Ag-loading could effectively improve the photocatalytic activities of TiO2. Furthermore, Au-loaded TiO2 exhibited a higher photocatalytic activity than Ag-loaded TiO2.