Photocatalytic degradation of Reactive Black 5 -: A comparison between TiO2-Tytanpol A11 and TiO2-Degussa P25 photocatalysts

The present studies provide the results from a comparison of two photocatalysts in form of titanium dioxide: TiO2-Tytanpol A11 commercially produced on Polish market by Police Company and the most popular titanium dioxide used in investigations - P25 produced by Degussa Company. Photocatalytic oxidation of azo-dye Reactive Black 5 (R135) was chosen as the test reaction. The titania materials have been characterised by several analytical methods, like XRD, Fr-IR/DRS and DR UV-VIS. The effect of operational parameters such as quantity of photocatalyst and pH of reaction medium on the photocatalytic degradation of R135 in water has been investigated. The degrees of R135 decomposition were lower by about 30% for A11 than for P25 in all cases. It can be stated that this lower activity of A11 results from different physical properties of two titania materials. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.