Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 24 (2000) L7–L12

Letter
The comparative studies of titanium dioxide in gas-phase ethanol
photocatalytic oxidation by the FTIR in situ method
D.V. Kozlov ∗ , E.A. Paukshtis, E.N. Savinov
Novosibirsk State University, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Prospekt Akademika Lavrentieva 5, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
Received 4 April 1999; received in revised form 20 July 1999; accepted 20 July 1999

Abstract
Gas-phase ethanol photocatalytic oxidation on the series of TiO2 samples has been studied by the FTIR in situ method. The
TiO2 samples were prepared by the usual method and they possessed similar physicochemical properties (porosity, specific
area), but were found to have different photocatalytic activities. The acidity and concentration of the Lewis centers have been
measured. The TiO2 photocatalytic activity has been found to correlate with the surface acidity, and the Ti3+ and carbonate
surface concentrations. ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Photocatalysis; TiO2 ; FTIR; Surface acidity

1. Introduction this problem because its kinetics and mechanism are

Today, the gas-phase photocatalytic oxidation of or-
ganic admixtures in the air is the rapidly developing
field of investigations [1,2]. It is possible to oxidize
any organic substances to CO2 and H2 O with hetero-
geneous photocatalysts [3,4]. Consequently, photocat-
alytic processes have already been used in air and wa-
ter purification. Nevertheless, the reasons causing the
difference in photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 sam-
ples of the same origin and morphology was not clear.
The object of this work was to find out the cor-
relation between the TiO2 photocatalytic activity and
its physicochemical properties. The reaction of deep
ethanol photooxidation has been chosen to elucidate
∗ Corresponding author. Fax: +7-383-235-5766
well-studied [5–9].
2. Experimental
The highly purified ethanol ‘REACHIM’ was used
in the experiment. We also used the series of TiO2
samples H19 which were prepared by the hydrolysis
of TiCl4 at the Institute of new chemical problems
under the direction of Professor Troitsky V.N.
The H19 series, in which the samples differed in
the pH value of precipitation, was prepared by the
hydrolysis of TiCl4 under the pH 4.0, 5.8, 8.6, followed
by annealing at 400◦ C for 1 h.
The characteristic of activity of TiO2 samples was
considered to be the quantum yield ϕ in the reaction
of gas-phase acetone photocatalytic oxidation [10]:

E-mail address: kdv@catalysis.nsk.su (D.V. Kozlov) CH3 COCH3 + 4O2 + 16 hν → 3CO2 + 3H2 O

0926-3373/00/$ – see front matter ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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