Studies on the preparation of magnetic photocatalysts

A crystalline titanium dioxide coating was deposited onto silica insulated magnetite particles to prepare a stable magnetic photocatalyst. The direct deposition of crystalline titanium dioxide was conducted by aging dispersions of insulated magnetite particles in a titanium sol-gel precursor mixture at 60-90 degrees C. The coating process was found to be influenced by pH, alkoxide precursor concentration, aging time and reaction temperature. A mechanism for the formation of the titanium dioxide coating has been proposed. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared particles was found to be related to the preparation conditions.