Cargando…

Photocatalytic Activity of Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Following Long-Term Aging

Anodic titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) nanotubes were found to be active photocatalysts. These photocatalysts possess a high surface area, even when supported, rendering them potential candidates for water treatment. In this work, photocatalytic surfaces were produced by anodizing commercially pure Ti pla...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Abela, Stephen, Farrugia, Clayton, Xuereb, Ryan, Lia, Frederick, Zammit, Edwin, Rizzo, Alex, Refalo, Paul, Grech, Maurice
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8618817/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34835587
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11112823
_version_ 1784604839120994304
author Abela, Stephen
Farrugia, Clayton
Xuereb, Ryan
Lia, Frederick
Zammit, Edwin
Rizzo, Alex
Refalo, Paul
Grech, Maurice
author_facet Abela, Stephen
Farrugia, Clayton
Xuereb, Ryan
Lia, Frederick
Zammit, Edwin
Rizzo, Alex
Refalo, Paul
Grech, Maurice
author_sort Abela, Stephen
collection PubMed
description Anodic titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) nanotubes were found to be active photocatalysts. These photocatalysts possess a high surface area, even when supported, rendering them potential candidates for water treatment. In this work, photocatalytic surfaces were produced by anodizing commercially pure Ti plates using two different electrolyte compositions and correspondingly diverse process parameters. Changes in the physical and chemical stability as well as photocatalytic activity were studied over a fifty-two-week aging process. During this period, the nanotubular surfaces were exposed to flowing synthetic greywater, solar irradiation, and the natural environment. The physical and phase stability of the materials anodized using the organic electrolyte were found to be outstanding and no degradation or change in crystalline structure was observed. On the other hand, materials anodized in the aqueous electrolyte proved to suffer from light-induced phase transition from anatase to rutile. Surfaces synthesized in the organic electrolyte were more resistant to fouling and showed a better tendency to recover photocatalytic activity upon cleaning. In conclusion, the nanotubes produced in the organic electrolyte proved to be stable, rendering them potentially suitable for real-life applications.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8618817
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-86188172021-11-27 Photocatalytic Activity of Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Following Long-Term Aging Abela, Stephen Farrugia, Clayton Xuereb, Ryan Lia, Frederick Zammit, Edwin Rizzo, Alex Refalo, Paul Grech, Maurice Nanomaterials (Basel) Article Anodic titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) nanotubes were found to be active photocatalysts. These photocatalysts possess a high surface area, even when supported, rendering them potential candidates for water treatment. In this work, photocatalytic surfaces were produced by anodizing commercially pure Ti plates using two different electrolyte compositions and correspondingly diverse process parameters. Changes in the physical and chemical stability as well as photocatalytic activity were studied over a fifty-two-week aging process. During this period, the nanotubular surfaces were exposed to flowing synthetic greywater, solar irradiation, and the natural environment. The physical and phase stability of the materials anodized using the organic electrolyte were found to be outstanding and no degradation or change in crystalline structure was observed. On the other hand, materials anodized in the aqueous electrolyte proved to suffer from light-induced phase transition from anatase to rutile. Surfaces synthesized in the organic electrolyte were more resistant to fouling and showed a better tendency to recover photocatalytic activity upon cleaning. In conclusion, the nanotubes produced in the organic electrolyte proved to be stable, rendering them potentially suitable for real-life applications. MDPI 2021-10-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8618817/ /pubmed/34835587 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11112823 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Abela, Stephen
Farrugia, Clayton
Xuereb, Ryan
Lia, Frederick
Zammit, Edwin
Rizzo, Alex
Refalo, Paul
Grech, Maurice
Photocatalytic Activity of Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Following Long-Term Aging
title Photocatalytic Activity of Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Following Long-Term Aging
title_full Photocatalytic Activity of Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Following Long-Term Aging
title_fullStr Photocatalytic Activity of Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Following Long-Term Aging
title_full_unstemmed Photocatalytic Activity of Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Following Long-Term Aging
title_short Photocatalytic Activity of Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Following Long-Term Aging
title_sort photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide nanotubes following long-term aging
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8618817/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34835587
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11112823
work_keys_str_mv AT abelastephen photocatalyticactivityoftitaniumdioxidenanotubesfollowinglongtermaging
AT farrugiaclayton photocatalyticactivityoftitaniumdioxidenanotubesfollowinglongtermaging
AT xuerebryan photocatalyticactivityoftitaniumdioxidenanotubesfollowinglongtermaging
AT liafrederick photocatalyticactivityoftitaniumdioxidenanotubesfollowinglongtermaging
AT zammitedwin photocatalyticactivityoftitaniumdioxidenanotubesfollowinglongtermaging
AT rizzoalex photocatalyticactivityoftitaniumdioxidenanotubesfollowinglongtermaging
AT refalopaul photocatalyticactivityoftitaniumdioxidenanotubesfollowinglongtermaging
AT grechmaurice photocatalyticactivityoftitaniumdioxidenanotubesfollowinglongtermaging