Characterization of the hydrothermally synthesized nano-TiO2 crystallite and the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B

Pure anatase-TiO2 nanoparticles with 8 nm average crystallite size was synthesized hydrothermally at 200 °C in 2 h. The structural and physico-chemical properties of nano-TiO2 were determined by powder XRD, FT-IR, BET and SEM analyses. The behavior of anatase nano-TiO2 in catalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RB) dye in transparent nano-TiO2 sol under UV-light was examined as a function of irradiation power of UV-light, irradiation time, amount of nano-TiO2 and initial RB concentration in the sol. Rhodamine B was fully degraded with the catalysis of the nano-TiO2 in a short time as low as 60 min. Photocatalytic activity of the nano-TiO2 for degradation of RB was compared with Degussa P-25 at optimum catalysis conditions determined for the nano-TiO2. It was found that, when compared to Degussa P-25, the nano-TiO2 could be repeatedly used with increasing photocatalytic activity. It was found that the photodegradation obeys the pseudo first-order reaction kinetics with the rate constant of 0.0658 min−1, and the half period t1/2 was 10.53 min.