A novel preparation approach and denitrification performance of TiO2/Fe0 photocatalysts

Chemical vapor hydrolysis deposition (CVHD), a novel method for preparation of TiO2/Fe-0 is presented. In the method, tetrabutyl titanate (TBT) and sponge iron (Fe-s) are used as precursor and carrier, respectively. Especially, TBT was hydrolyzed slowly with the thin water vapor to create TiO2 nanoparticles on the Fe-s carrier. The experiment showed that the optimal preparation conditions for TiO2/Fe-0 via CVHD were calcination temperature of 723K and TiO2-loading amount of 7.57%. The as-prepared TiO2/Fe-0 catalysts were evaluated by the catalytic reaction of nitrate reduction, and exhibited a higher catalytic activity and selectivity than the similar catalysts prepared with the typical methods of sol-gel or alkoxide hydrolysis precipitation. The present results demonstrate that the selective nitrate reduction over TiO2/Fe-0 catalysts with HCOOH as the hole scavenger, highlighting the validity of removal of aqueous nitrate by photocatalysis.