Preparation of La-TiO2/Bentonite and Its Photodegradation Properties to Cyanide

The photocatalytic materials were prepared by sol-gel method: the main raw materials were tetrabutyltitanate and the lanthanum nitrate hexahydrate, bentonite was the carrier to support TiO2. The properties of the composites were characterized by specific surface area (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). The photocatalytic degradation of cyanide waste water was used to assess the photocatalytic activity of the materials. The experimental results showed that the suitable content of lanthanum and roasted temperature could improve the photocatalytic activity. When the composites were roasted at 400 °C and the molar ratio of La to Ti was 1%, the photocatalyst reached optimal performance.