Effects of calcination temperature on TiO2 nanoparticle photocatalyst for methylene blue dye degradation

Abstract

Dye pollutants are hazardous compounds, highly toxic, and have low biodegradability, thus remain a long time in the environment. Therefore, the removal of dyes prior to discharge into the environment is essential. Recently, photocatalytic degradation using semiconductor photocatalysts has been extensively studied for dye removal. In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle photocatalyst was synthesized for photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under ultra-violet (UV) light. TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized using the sol-gel method and characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The photocatalytic activity was tested for MB degradation. 75.00% MB was successfully degraded under UV light using synthesized TiO2 after calcination at 400°C. The degradation rate was reduced to 38.60% and 7.05% using TiO2 calcined at 600°C and 800°C, respectively. This was probably due to their nanosize particles, low crystallinity, and anatase phase structure of synthesized TiO2 after calcination at 400°C for 2 hours.