Photocatalytic degradation of toluene in the gas phase:: comparative study of some TiO2 supports

The Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) kinetic model has been used to describe the degradation of the toluene on three TiO(2)-based photo-catalysts supports. The determination of the L-H rate constant (k) showed that the UV illumination parameter seems to be more important than the quantity of TiO(2) per unit area. The constant k is the greatest for the less density TiO(2) photocatalyst. The comparison between the Langmuir adsorption constant (K) in the dark and under UV irradiation shows that the adsorption constant for the high kinetic catalyst increases while it decreases for the other two. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.