In Situ Synthesis of TiO2-Pillared Bentonite Photocatalyst and its Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

TiO2-pillared clay is a kind of functional material for treating wastewater. In this study, anatase TiO2-pillared bentonite photocatalyst was obtained by a simple in situ hydrothermal method with TiOSO4 and natural bentonite as the precursors. The as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, TEM, HRTEM, FT-IR, UV-Vis DRS, N-2 adsorption-desorption, and the electro-kinetic measurements. The photocatalyst had a higher surface area than bentonite and pure TiO2. And only the anatase phase was present in the photocatalysts. The as-prepared photocatalyst showed excellent catalytic activity for the degradation of phenol under UV irradiation. The effects of the dosage of the as-prepared sample, pH, and the initial concentration of phenol on the degradation efficiency were investigated. The phenol degradation efficiency was about 97.4% under the following condition: [catalyst](0) = 2.0 g center dot L-1, pH = 6, [phenol](0) = 50 mg center dot L-1, [irradiation time] = 120 min. The photodegradation of phenol followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The apparent rate constant decreased with the increase of initial phenol concentration. In addition, the reusability of the as-prepared TiO2-pillared bentonite photocatalyst was examined. The phenol degradation efficiency remained 90.9% after 10 cycles of recycling. It means that the photocatalyst possessed excellent photocatalytic stability.

Automated summary

In this study, TiO2-pillared bentonite photocatalyst was obtained using a simple hydrothermal method. The photocatalyst showed excellent catalytic activity and stability, making it potentially valuable for wastewater treatment.