Comparison of several titanium dioxides for the photocatalytic degradation of benzenesulfonic acids

The photocatalytic efficiency of several TiO2 (namely Degussa P25 and Millennium PC50, PC100, PC105, PC500) used as suspensions are compared for the photocatalytic degradation of 3-nitrobenzenesulfonic acid (3-NBSA) and 2,5-anilinedisulfonic acid (2,5-ADSA). With 3-NBSA, P25 is clearly the most efficient and there is no apparent relationship between photocatalytic activity and specific surface area. This result is consistent with that obtained with phenol, but a contrast was noticed with 2,5-ADSA where PC500 is more efficient than P25 in spite of a higher adsorption of the latter. In the case of TiO2 Millennium relative photonic efficiencies zeta(r) are smaller with 3-NBSA than with 2,5-ADSA, that is consistent with the electron-withdrawing effect of nitro group. For the same reason the direct phototransformation in sunlight is much more rapid with of 2,5-ADSA than for 3-NBSA and 4-nitrotoluene-2-sulfonic acid. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.