Characteristics of supported nano-TiO2/ZSM-5/silica gel (SNTZS): Photocatalytic degradation of phenol

Abstract: Photocatalytic degradation of phenol was investigated using the supported nano-TiO2/ZSM-5/silica gel (SNTZS) as a photocatalyst in a batch reactor. The prepared photocatalyst was characterized using XRD, TEM, FT-IR and BET surface area analysis. The synthesized photocatalyst composition was developed using nano-TiO2 as the photoactive component and zeolite (ZSM-5) as the adsorbents, all supported on silica gel using colloidal silica gel binder. The optimum formulation of SNTZS catalyst was observed to be (nano-TiO2:ZSM-5:silica gel:colloidal silica gel=1:0.6:0.6:1) which giving about 90% degradation of 50mg/L phenol solution in 180min. The SNTZS exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than that of the commercial Degussa P25 which only gave 67% degradation. Its high photocatalytic activity was due to its large specific surface area (275.7m2/g), small particle size (8.1nm), high crystalline quality of the synthesized catalyst and low electron–hole pairs recombination rate as ZSM-5 adsorbent was used. The SNTZS photocatalyst synthesized in this study also has been proven to have an excellent adhesion and reusability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]