EFFECT OF THE MIXTURE OF N2 AND H2 GASES IN PLASMA TREATMENT ON THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES AND PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF TIO2 NANOPARTICLES

Reference	Presenter	Authors (Institution)	Abstract
06-037	Ruthilene Catarina Lima da Silva	Lima da Silva, R.C.(Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte); Mallak, R.S.(Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido); Alves Jr., C.(Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-árido); Vitoriano, J.D.(Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido); Alves, V.H.(Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido);	Commercial TiO2 nanoparticles were modified by plasma nitriding treatment in an atmosphere of nitrogen (N2) and hydrogen (H2). After treatment, the modified nanoparticles were characterized by SEM, X-ray diffraction and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Aqueous solutions of phenol with modified nanoparticles were subjected to testing of heterogeneous photocatalysis under natural solar exposure. During the tests, samples were collected for further analysis in UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Results of characterization showed that the nitrogen dopant had a significant effect on the optical absorption of the TiO2 leading to a redshift of the absorption edge toward the visible region which increased the photocatalytic activity of the catalyst modified by 80% N2 - 20% H2 demonstrated through a reduction of 27% in the concentration of phenol in the solution tested. This result represents a gain of 50% in photocatalytic efficiency when compared to untreated TiO2 which showed a reduction of 18% in the concentration of phenol.
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