Synthesis and characterization of Ta2O5-grafted SiO2 nanoparticles for photocatalytic applications

ENVR 43

Nicholas Ndiege, ndiege@uiuc.edu1, Ramesh Chandrasekharan, rchandra@uiuc.edu2, William N. Harris III, determined83@hotmail.com3, Bolutife Bambgoye2, Jessica Lucido, jlucido2@uiuc.edu2, Richard I. Masel, r-masel@uiuc.edu4, and Mark A. Shannon, mshannon@uiuc.edu2. (1) Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews, 294 Roger Adams Laboratory, 42-6 CLSL, MC 712, Urbana, IL 61820, (2) Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 61801, (3) Department of Chemistry, Clark Atlanta Univeristy, 223 James P. Brawley Dr. S.W, Atlanta, GA 30314, (4) Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Room 294, Roger Adams Lab, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801
Some of the challenges facing currently available semiconductor photocatalysts include high cost of production, low quantum yield, limited reaction selectivity to produce the targeted products and activity that is limited to only UV radiation wavelengths (and not the visible wavelengths that make up much of solar energy reaching the earth). We propose an alternative approach towards overcoming this challenge by dispersion of the photocatalyst onto a high surface area acidic but non-photocatalytic material such as SiO2. These composite materials take advantage of SiO2's high surface area and acidic surface allowing for high photoactivity at lower loadings of Ta2O5 than the pure Ta2O5. In this work, we present the binder-assisted sol-gel synthesis of Ta2O5 nanoparticles decorated onto SiO2 nanospheres. The resulting mixed oxide nanoparticles were characterized via transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infra red analysis.
 

Advances in Adsorption Processes for Drinking Water Treatment and Sourcewater Protection
1:30 PM-5:10 PM, Sunday, April 6, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 236, Oral

Division of Environmental Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008