Synergistic effect in photocatalysis as observed for mixed-phase nanocrystalline titania processed via sol-gel solvent mixing and calcination

Mixed-phase nanocrystalline titania (TiO(2)) With varying rutile content has been synthesized via solvent mixing and calcination (SMC) treatment of sol-gel-derived nanocrystalline anatase-TiO(2) and rutile-TiO(2) precursors. The mixed-phase nanocrystalline TiO(2) processed via sol-gel SMC has been characterized using X-ray diffraction, the scanning electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) diffuse reflectance spectroscope for analyzing its morphology, phase contents, nanocrystallite size distribution, and band gap. The photocatalytic activity of mixed-phase nanocrystalline TiO(2) processed via sol-gel SMC is measured by monitoring the degradation of the methylene blue dye in an aqueous solution, under the UV-radiation exposure, using the UV-vis absorption spectroscope. It is demonstrated that the photocatalytic activity of mixed-phase nanocrystalline TiO(2) processed via sol-gel SMC is a function of rutile content with the maximum photocatalytic activity observed for 40 wt% rutile. Thus, the synergistic effect has been observed between anatase-TiO(2) and rutile-TiO(2), which has been satisfactorily explained using a new model based on the band-gap variation in the connected nanocrystallites as a function of the size distribution and the phases involved, which overcomes the limitations of the existing models proposed earlier in the literature.