Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by Au/TiO2 nanotubes

Au/TiO2 nanotubes catalyst was successfully synthetized through the calcination of TiO2 with HAuCl4. The Au nanoparticles were formed both on internal and external walls of TiO2 nanotubes. The degradation of methyl orange (MO) was used as a model reaction to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the obtained catalyst. It was found that the degradation ratio of Au/TiO2 nanotubes hybrids was improved as compared with that of pure TiO2 nanotubes. Moreover, it turned out that different ratios of Au/TiO2 influenced the degradation activity and the TiO2 nanotubes modified with 0.02 M HAuCl4 aqueous solution exhibited the best performance. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.