Photocatalytic degradation of gaseous toluene with multiphase Ti(x)Zr(1-x)O2 synthesized via co-precipitation route.

In the present work, the multiphase Ti(x)Zr(1-x)O2 particles containing cubic-phase ZrO2 were fabricated via co-precipitation route. The mole ratios of Ti and Zr elements were controlled by three levels: Ti/Zr=7/3 (maximum), Ti/Zr=5/5 (medium), and Ti/Zr=3/7 (minimum). The materials prepared were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. For the maximum usage of solar power with fabricated catalysts, elimination of gaseous toluene was chosen as a model to evaluate the performances under visible light. The results indicated that the degradation efficiency of toluene was about 80% after 6 h reaction using Ti(0.3)Zr(0.7)O2 as the photocatalyst. On the other hand, the multiphase Ti(x)Zr(1-x)O2 (x=0.7 or 0.5) photocatalysts showed significant enhancement in the activity, compared with the commercial TiO2 (Degussa P25). The enhanced performances of Ti(x)Zr(1-x)O2 might be attributed to the lower charge recombination rate of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. In addition, some intermediates (the benzaldehyde and benzoic acid) and final product (CO2) adsorbed on the surface of the particles were also detected by using in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.