Synergistic photosensitized removal of Cr(VI) and Rhodamine B dye on amorphous TiO2 under visible light irradiation.

Amorphous TiO(2) (Am-TiO(2)) was prepared at room temperature by hydrolysis of Ti(OBu)(4) in water without addition of strong acids or organic solvents. Results from XRD and TEM revealed that the as-prepared Am-TiO(2) was composed of amorphous structure. For the simultaneous photosensitized removal of Cr(VI) and zwitterionic Rhodamine B (RhB) dye, Am-TiO(2) exhibited more significant synergistic effect than commercial P25-TiO(2). The removal efficiencies for RhB and Cr(VI) after 100 min visible light irradiation were 97.8% and 53.5% on Am-TiO(2), respectively. While 88.2% RhB and 42.1% Cr(VI) were removed on P25-TiO(2). Decreased synergistic activities as well as smaller surface areas were observed when Am-TiO(2) was pretreated at high temperatures (200-700°C). Thus, it was the larger specific surface area rather than better crystallinity dominated the synergistic degradation dynamics under visible light irradiation with lower pH (2), greater catalyst loading amount (2g/L), proper RhB/Cr(VI) ratios (1:8) and higher light intensity (500 W). Better synergistic performance was also obtained on Am-TiO(2) than P25-TiO(2) when Cr(VI) coexists with cationic dyes, while negligible difference was observed in the presence of anionic dyes. Superior stability and simplicity of Am-TiO(2) was also exhibited in the cyclic runs.