One-Pot Synthesis of Magnesium Aminoclay-Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposites for Improved Photocatalytic Performance

TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with their excellent photocatalytic performance are among the hottest research subjects for environmental-cleanup applications. In the present work, we developed a method of one-pot synthesis of magnesium aminoclay-titanium dioxide [MgAC-TiO2] nanocomposites in ethanol solution and then treated the obtained nanocomposites in a 350 °C muffle furnace for 3 hours. The obtained X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the growth of the anatase TiO2 NPs in the amorphous MgAC phase. In the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphological observation, the MgAC-TiO2 nanocomposites exhibited an aggregate form of 246.59 ± 54.20 nm diameter. The synthesis condition entailing loading of 0.3 g MgAC and 5 mL titanium butoxide (TB) (denoted as MgAC [0.3 g]-TiO2 in 40 mL ethanol solution displayed the largest BET surface area, 234.91 m2/g, as well as the largest pore size and pore volume, 6.7131 nm and 0.3942 cm3/g, respectively. Also, MgAC [0.3 g]-TiO2 showed the best photocatalytic performance for methylene blue (MB) on the batch scale under 365 nm wavelength irradiation: a degradation constant rate of 0.0293 min-1, which was ~20-times-better photocatalytic activity than commercial P25. On the pilot scale (100 L), the MgAC [0.3 g]-TiO2 nanocomposite took only ~12 hours to degrade almost MB at 10 ppm concentration. The mechanism of this high photocatalytic activity was determined to be the high rate of adsorption of both MgAC and oxygen vacancies in the anatase phase coupled with the retardation of the rate of recombination of electrons and holes in the TiO2 NPs, the latter proved by photoluminescent quenching tests.