Photocatalytic degradation of acetaldehyde by sol-gel TiO₂ nanoparticles: Effect of the physicochemical properties on the photocatalytic activity

Nowadays, nanostructured semiconductor materials offer promising opportunities for a new generation of materials such as TiO₂ nanoparticles with improved properties for their application in the environmental catalysis field. It is well known that the phocatalytic activity of the TiO₂ nanoparticles is strongly dependent on the surface area, crystal size, phase composition and synthesis method. Thus, the preparation conditions clearly affect the photocatalytic activity of the TiO₂ nanoparticles. This work deals with the study of the structure of TiO ₂ nanoparticles that were synthesized by the sol-gel method (using isopropanol as solvent), and calcined at 200 and 500°C. The obtained samples were characterized by the XRD-Rietveld refinement, BET and TEM techniques; and tested in the photodecomposition of acetaldehyde. The evaluations were carried out at room temperature by using CH₃CHO (300 ppmv), O₂ (2.0 %) in helium balance in a quartz glass photoreactor (gas phase) with a 365-UV light lamp. According to the results, the sample that presented the highest activity in the photocatalytic oxidation of acetaldehyde (96.4%) was the one annealed at 200 °C. This sample showed the following proportion of phases: anatase (62.88%) with a tetragonal structure (a=0.3790926, b=0.3790926, c=0.9495732) nm; and b) brookite (37.12%) with an orthorhombic structure (a=0.9167624, b=0.5416461, c=0.5210546) nm. The surface area was 189 m ²/g and the average crystal size was 7.03 nm. From the results, it can be seen that this material showed high activity in the photocatalytic degradation of acetaldehyde because of: the presence of a mixture of the anatase (higher proportion) and brookite phases, nanometric crystal size and high surface area obtained in this TiO₂ material. According to the aforementioned, this material can be considered as a good option for the decomposition of acetaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in confined spaces.