Optical properties of hierarchical-nanostructured TiO2 and its time-dependent photo-degradation of gaseous acetaldehyde

Abstract

The TiO2 hierarchical nanostructures (HNs) composed of rutile TiO2 nanowires on anatase TiO2 nanofibers had higher photocatalytic activities of 62% and 48% than the commercial TiO2 nanoparticles (∼21 nm diameter) in the continuous flow mode and closed-circulation mode, respectively, leading to an efficient degradation of gaseous acetaldehyde under UV-light irradiation. This behavior may be attributed to the effective TiO2 HNs with specific surface area of 85.1 m 2/g and lower radiative recombination of self-trapped excitons, enabling an effective electron-hole separation. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.