Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria

We report a facile non-hydrothermal method for the large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for the photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria. Crescent Ti/RF spheres were prepared by deliberately adding titanium trichloride (TiCl3) to the reaction of resorcin...

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Main Authors: Bai, Hongwei, Liu, Zhaoyang, Liu, Lei, Sun, Darren Delai
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2014
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102362
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19026
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1023622020-03-07T11:43:48Z Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria Bai, Hongwei Liu, Zhaoyang Liu, Lei Sun, Darren Delai School of Civil and Environmental Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering We report a facile non-hydrothermal method for the large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for the photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria. Crescent Ti/RF spheres were prepared by deliberately adding titanium trichloride (TiCl3) to the reaction of resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) in an open reactor under heating and stirring. The hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres were obtained by calcining the crescent Ti/RF spheres in a furnace in air to burn off the RF spheres. This method has many merits, such as large-scale production, good crystallisation of TiO2, and good reproducibility, all of which are difficult to realise by conventional hydrothermal methods. The calcination temperature plays a significant role in influencing the morphology, crystallisation, porosity, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area, and hierarchy of the TiO2 nanorod spheres, thus resulting in different photocatalytic performances under UV light and solar light irradiation. The experimental results have demonstrated that the hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres obtained after calcination of the crescent Ti/RF spheres at different temperatures displayed similar photocatalytic activities under irradiation with UV light. We attribute this to a balance of opposing effects of the investigated factors. A higher calcination temperature leads to greater light absorption capability of the TiO2 nanorod spheres, thus resulting in higher photocatalytic antibacterial activity under solar light irradiation. It is also interesting to note that the hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres displayed intrinsic antibacterial activity in the absence of light irradiation, apparently because their sharp outward spikes can easily pierce and penetrate the walls of bacteria. In this study, the sharpest hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres were obtained after calcination at 500 °C, and these exhibited the highest antibacterial activity without light irradiation. A higher calcination temperature proved detrimental to the sharpness of the TiO2 nanorods, thus reducing their intrinsic antibacterial activity. 2014-03-28T06:32:10Z 2019-12-06T20:53:57Z 2014-03-28T06:32:10Z 2019-12-06T20:53:57Z 2013 2013 Journal Article Bai, H., Liu, Z., Liu, L., & Sun, D. D. (2013). Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria. Chemistry - A European Journal, 19(9), 3061-3070. 0947-6539 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102362 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19026 10.1002/chem.201204013 en Chemistry - a European journal © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering
Bai, Hongwei
Liu, Zhaoyang
Liu, Lei
Sun, Darren Delai
Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria
description We report a facile non-hydrothermal method for the large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for the photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria. Crescent Ti/RF spheres were prepared by deliberately adding titanium trichloride (TiCl3) to the reaction of resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) in an open reactor under heating and stirring. The hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres were obtained by calcining the crescent Ti/RF spheres in a furnace in air to burn off the RF spheres. This method has many merits, such as large-scale production, good crystallisation of TiO2, and good reproducibility, all of which are difficult to realise by conventional hydrothermal methods. The calcination temperature plays a significant role in influencing the morphology, crystallisation, porosity, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area, and hierarchy of the TiO2 nanorod spheres, thus resulting in different photocatalytic performances under UV light and solar light irradiation. The experimental results have demonstrated that the hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres obtained after calcination of the crescent Ti/RF spheres at different temperatures displayed similar photocatalytic activities under irradiation with UV light. We attribute this to a balance of opposing effects of the investigated factors. A higher calcination temperature leads to greater light absorption capability of the TiO2 nanorod spheres, thus resulting in higher photocatalytic antibacterial activity under solar light irradiation. It is also interesting to note that the hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres displayed intrinsic antibacterial activity in the absence of light irradiation, apparently because their sharp outward spikes can easily pierce and penetrate the walls of bacteria. In this study, the sharpest hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres were obtained after calcination at 500 °C, and these exhibited the highest antibacterial activity without light irradiation. A higher calcination temperature proved detrimental to the sharpness of the TiO2 nanorods, thus reducing their intrinsic antibacterial activity.
author2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bai, Hongwei
Liu, Zhaoyang
Liu, Lei
Sun, Darren Delai
format Article
author Bai, Hongwei
Liu, Zhaoyang
Liu, Lei
Sun, Darren Delai
author_sort Bai, Hongwei
title Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria
title_short Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria
title_full Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria
title_fullStr Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria
title_full_unstemmed Large-scale production of hierarchical TiO2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria
title_sort large-scale production of hierarchical tio2 nanorod spheres for photocatalytic elimination of contaminants and killing bacteria
publishDate 2014
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102362
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19026
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