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Photocatalytic and structural properties of mixed titania and zirconia aerogels

V. DANCIU,1,* , V. COSOVEANU1, F. VASILIU2, L. DIAMANDESCU2, C. M. TEODORESCU2, M. FEDER2, J. POPP3,4, L. BAIA5

Affiliation

  1. Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 400028, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  2. National Institute for Materials Physics (INCDFM), Bucharest, P.O.Box MG-7 / R-76 900, Romania
  3. Institute of Physical Chemistry, Friedrich-Schiller University, Helmholtzweg 4, D-07743 Jena, Germany
  4. Institute of Physical High Technologies, e. V. Jena, Albert Einstein 9. D-07745, Jena, Germany
  5. Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Physics, 400084, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Abstract

A series of TiO2–ZrO2 aerogels with different ZrO2 contents (3-10 %) were prepared by an acid catalyzed sol-gel method followed by low-temperature supercritical drying and heat treatment. The structure and morphology of mixed aerogels were studied by means of Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), xenon sorption and elemental analysis. XRD spectra refinements show that the calcined TiO2-ZrO2 aerogels consist mainly in anatase phase accompanied by a small fraction of tetragonal ZrO2. The Raman spectra proof that the network of the calcined mixed aerogels mainly preserves an anatase structure similar to that of the calcined TiO2 aerogel. The TEM images reveal that the anatase particles present round shapes with a highly homogeneous size (about 3-8 nm). Areas containing chains of amorphous tetragonal zirconia were also identified by the TEM investigations. The addition of zirconia to titania significantly increased the surface area and stabilized the anatase phase of titania. The best catalytic efficiency for the salicylic acid photodecomposition was obtained for the aerogel with 9.39 % zirconia that exhibited an apparent rate constant of about three times higher than that of the pure titania aerogel.

Keywords

TiO2-ZrO2 aerogels, Photocatalytic activity, Raman, XRD, TEM.

Citation

V. DANCIU,, V. COSOVEANU, F. VASILIU, L. DIAMANDESCU, C. M. TEODORESCU, M. FEDER, J. POPP, L. BAIA, Photocatalytic and structural properties of mixed titania and zirconia aerogels, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 2, 2, February 2008, pp.76-80 (2008).

Submitted at: Jan. 25, 2008

Accepted at: Feb. 11, 2008