Sains Malaysiana 39(2)(2010): 261–265

Synthesis of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles via Sucrose Ester Micelle-Mediated Hydrothermal Processing Route

(Sintesis Nanozarah Titanium Dioksida melalui Kaedah Misel Ester Sukrosa dalam Proses Hidroterma)

N.S. Anwar, A. Kassim, H.N. Lim*, S.A. Zakarya

Chemistry Department, , Faculty of ScienceUniversiti Putra Malaysia

43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor D.E., Malaysia

N.M. Huang

Solid State Physics Research Laboratory

Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya

50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Received : 7 May 2009 / Accepted: 3 September 2009

ABSTRACT

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles were synthesized via low-temperature sucrose ester micelle-mediated hydrothermal processing route using titanium isopropoxide as the precursor. X-ray diffractometer revealed that the samples possessed a mixed crystalline phases consisting of anatase and brookite in which anatase was the main phase. Upon increasing the hydrothermal reaction temperature, the degree of crystallinity of the nanoparticles improved and their morphology transformed from bundles of needles to rods and to spheres. Photocatalytic behaviour of the as-synthesized nanoparticles was investigated by photodegradation of methylene blue solution in an ultraviolet A irradiating photoreactor. The as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibited higher photocatalytic performance as compared to the commercial counterpart.

Keywords: Hydrothermal; nanoparticles; photocatalyst; sucrose ester; titanium dioxide

ABSTRAK

Nanozarah titanium dioksida disintesis melalui kaedah misel ester sukrosa dalam proses hidroterma menggunakan titanium isopropoksida sebagai pemula. Penyerakan sinar-X membuktikan sampel-sampel tersebut mengandungi campuran fasa hablur yang terdiri daripada anatase dan brokit dengan anatase merupakan fasa utama. Apabila suhu proses hidroterma ditingkatkan, darjah penghabluran nanozarah meningkat dan morfologi berubah daripada jarum ke rod dan ke sfera. Sifat fotokatalitik nanozarah yang dihasilkan diuji menerusi fotodegradasi larutan metilena biru di dalam fotoreaktor sinaran ultralembayung A. Nanozarah tersebut mempamerkan aktiviti fotokatalitik yang lebih tinggi berbanding dengan titanium dioksida yang telah dikomersialkan.

Kata kunci: Ester sukrosa; fotokatalis; Hidroterma; nanozarah titanium dioksida

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*Corresponding author; email: janet_limhn@yahoo.com