Photodegradation of surfactants on the nanosized TiO2 prepared by hydrolysis of the alkoxide titanium.

Nanosized TiO(2) was synthesized by hydrolysis of titanium tetraisopropoxide in the nanodroplets of microemulsions. The microemulsion provided by functionalized surfactants derived from the mixture of the commercially available sodium dodecylbenzensulfonate (DBS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (DS). The resulting TiO(2) nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and differential thermal analysis. Nanosized TiO(2) of anatase was found to show good photocatalytic properties in the photodegradation of DBS and DS surfactants. The cleavage of the aromatic moiety, the intermediate products and ultimate mineralization to CO(2) were examined in the process of photodegradation. A mechanism is also proposed on the basis of these experimental results.