Sol-gel synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles: effect of Pluronic P123 on particle's morphology and photocatalytic degradation of paraquat

We report a facile method to tune TiO2 nanoparticles' morphology by modifying and an acid-catalyzed sol-gel synthesis with Pluronic P123. Synthesized particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, BET analysis, and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy. XRD analysis revealed a high anatase content while BET measurements showed that porous volume strongly depends on the amount of P123. We demonstrate that high amounts of P123 increase particle's aspect-ratio from spherical to rod-shape morphology. We evaluated the photocatalytic performances for the removal of methyl viologen (paraquat) and found that best performances are obtained for the following weight ratio P123/TiO2 = 7.5. Furthermore, P25 is less active than synthesized nanoparticles.