Preparo e caracterização de catalisadores baseados em óxido de titânio dopado com íons prata, para emprego em fotocatálise

Abstract

The effect of the insertion of silver ions on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 was studied in this work, considering the degradation of tartrazine, a food coloring in the class of azo-compounds, with sulfonic groups in its structure, being highly soluble in water. Characterization techniques such as differential thermal analysis, x-ray diffraction, Raman Spectroscopy, difuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy, surface area analysis, and scanning electron microscopy were used to understand the relationship between structure and photocatalytic activity for the oxides synthesized by homogeneous precipitation method in ultrasound, with different nominal concentrations of silver ions (0.0, 0.5, 2.0, and 5.0% m/m). According to the analysis by X-ray diffraction, anatase crystalline phase is predominant in all compounds synthesized. The band gap of the oxides synthesized showed displacement to smaller energies as increased percentage of doping ions. Raman Spectroscopy data suggest the existence of active modes of anatase and smaller particle size, when compared to TiO2 P25. The surface area was increased by the addition of silver ions and also by the method of synthesis used. The oxides synthesized presented porous and partially aggregated structure, which contributes to its application in heterogeneous photocatalysis, due to the availability of active sites. Photocatalytic degradation of the dye tartrazine, catalyzed by oxides synthesized, was evaluated under three different conditions of pH: 3.00, 6.90 (solution without pH correction), and 8.00. The best photocatalytic performance was observed when using TiO2 doped with 5% m/m of silver ions under pH without correction (~6.90).