Tailored Pt/TiO₂ Photocatalyst with Controllable Phase Prepared via a Modified Sol-Gel Process for Dye Degradation

Pt/TiO2 photocatalysts with controllable phase were successfully prepared by controlling the hydrolysis pH values during the sol-gel process followed by Pt photodeposition. The effect of different phases of TiO2 coated with Pt on the catalytic properties and the photocatalytic activities were also investigated. The characterization results of the synthesis of TiO2 under neutral/alkaline and acidic conditions during the hydrolysis step revealed the facile formation of the anatase phase and the brookite/rutile phase, respectively. Pt/TiO2 photocatalysts prepared at hydrolysis pH values of 2, 7, and 10 had different TiO2 phase compositions, but the main crystalline sizes of the photocatalysts were all close to 6 nm. The Pt/TiO2 particles prepared at various hydrolysis pH values were all spheroidal. The PL results indicated that the anatase/rutile junction of a Pt/TiO2 sample had a lower recombination rate than did the anatase phase of Pt/TiO2 owing to the longer recombination pathway. However, the anatase phase of Pt/TiO2 exhibited better degradation ability than the anatase/rutile junction of Pt/TiO2, and the degradation rate decreased with a decrease in the anatase composition of TiO2, indicating that anatase composition in the Pt/TiO2 system played an important role of enhancing the photocatalytic degradation of Acid Red 1 dye.