Preparation And Characterization Of Titanium Dioxide/Carbon Nanotubes Composite Photocatalyst

Nano- TiO₂ is a new type of air purification agent which is efficient, non-toxic, low-cost and effective in the decomposition of indoor air pollutants. So it has been paid more attention in the field of indoor air pollution and has been considered the best air purification materials. TiO₂ is a kind of good indoor air purification degradation material, but its poor dispersion and smaller ground contact have affected the effectiveness of its degradation. Carbon nanotubes have bigger surface area and good adsorption properties, so catalyst can be maximized its catalytic activity.In this paper, we use carbon nanotubes as carrier, tetrabutyl titanate as precursor, and use the method of sol-gel prepared composite photocatalyst TiO₂-CNTs through different heating temperatures in furnace to produce a relatively larger surface area, higher purity, appropriate aperture and narrow distribution of anatase TiO₂-CNTs nano-powder. Select the most commonly used methyl orange as the detection reagents, through the degradation of methyl orange to study the effects of degradation of pollutants. At the same time, though the degradation rate of methyl orange to choose a better ratio of the materials. The best ratio of reagents for perpetrating titanium dioxide is as following: tetrabutyl titanate: ethanol: acetylacetone: polyethylene glycol: nitric acid: water = 10:25:0.8:0 .1714:0.15:3 (volume ratio). By adding different amounts of carbon nanotubes in titanium dioxide to produce photocatalyst of which effect are better than pure titanium dioxide powder on the degradation of methyl orange. It will reach the optimal effect by adding 0.1g carbon nanotubes, and improve methyl orange degradation rate nearly 50%. Finally, TiO₂-CNTs were put on glass slide to pull membrane and bake. Then detect the effect of TiO₂-CNTs composite photocatalyst on the degradation of formaldehyde in the air by using home-made experimental device and compare with pure titanium dioxide film degradation .The results showed that the degradation effect of photocatalyst which be added titanium dioxide is higher than titanium dioxide almost 2%.