A new photocatalytic tool in VOCs abatement: Effective synergetic combination of sonication and light for the synthesis of monometallic palladium-containing TiO2

A new simultaneous combination of ultrasonication and ultraviolet irradiation was proposed to synthesize materials with photocatalytic properties. Different palladium modified TiO2 systems were synthesized, using commercial TiO2 P90 as a support. Morphological and surface characterization of the samples as well as photocatalytic activity for methanol photo-oxidation was studied. Among different characterization techniques X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy, N-2 physisorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy with X-ray microanalysis (HRTEM-EDS) were applied. Degradation of methanol was studied in the gas phase. The results of this study demonstrate that palladium in the reduced form was obtained in sonophotodeposition method (SPD), although the calcination step at 300 degrees C in air flow during 4 h was the last in the synthesis procedure. All Pd modified photocatalysts obtained by SPD method were very active (>90%) in gas phase methanol degradation and highly selective (>80%) to CO2. The optimum palladium loading was fixed at 1 wt. %. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.